Blinded By Darkness
by Rilixir-CloudBurst
Summary: After Light disappears, Serah begins to experience abnormal events that she cannot fathom. Through an unexpected encounter with a hooded figure, she meets a young keyblade wielder named Sora, who claims that her sister is still alive but was consumed by darkness. Desperate to bring her back, Serah embarks on a journey with the young keyblader. (Summary continues inside) Sora
1. The Fight Within One's Self

_**A/N: As much as I wish I came up with the idea of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy XIII, I didn't Square Enix did therefore I do not own this. Only some OC characters. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it. I know, it should be in the X-over section, but I go by how many stories are in that section and Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy XIII don't have that many X-overs so I'm not placing it there because I worry it won't get read. And I want my story to be read. So here it is in the Kingdom Hearts Section! :] Read away!**_

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**After Light disappears, Serah begins to experience abnormal events that she cannot fathom. Through an unexpected encounter with a hooded figure, she meets a young keyblade wielder named Sora, who _claims _that her sister is still alive but was consumed by darkness. Desperate to bring her back, Serah embarks on a journey with the young keyblader to find her lost sister and learns some things not only about herself, but others as well. Sora&Serah **

**:::**

**Chapter 1: The Fight Within One's Self**

The night was a silent one, Besides the soothing sound of the waves crashing on and off shore. And the evening breeze gently blowing through the air, rustling the island trees and other parts of nature's surroundings. The moon's light shined down on the beach sands and the ocean, illuminating the darkness with it's bright glow.

Laying on the sands just inches away from the water, was a girl. Arms crossed behind her head and eyes staring up at the twinkling stars in the sky.

'_3,999, 4,000! 4,000 stars tonight!' _She thought to herself and giggled softly.

Every night for the past three years she would lay on the beach and count the stars. It was a fun way to pass time since every night the number would be different and it was also a way for her to forget the things that had occurred up until this point. The main one, being the strange disappearance of her sister. her smile faded.

The day her sister was sucked up into a black void was the day everything changed. Whenever she would mention her sister's name or even desceibe what she looked like, people would just give her an empty look and tell her to stop making up stories. Even her friends said she was talking nonsense, telling her she never had a sister and all her crazy talk had to be some side effect from being in crystal stasis for so long.

Before all this there was a crisis back on Cocoon with Gran Pulse dealing with l'cie. She had gotten mixed up in the Chaos and winded up being branded by a Pulse Fal'cie. by the time her sister and her fiancée reached her it was too late and she was turned to crystal. Her sister and her fiancée, along with some other friends fought and defeated the threat of Cocoon which is why the planet is sitting at the center of Pulse in a crystalized state. In the end Serah was released from her crystal state and reunited with her sister and friends. It was strange how someone could forget something like that so quickly.

She told that story over a hundred times to her fiancée but he denied it all, saying he and a few others saved her and there was no one else.

As time went on everyone carried on with their lives, oblivious to the fact that someone important was missing, something only she knew apparently because everyone else around thought she was crazy or had completely lost it.

"I'll see you again." She stood up and picked up a glass bottle from the sandy surface that she had sitting by her side. The bottle was sealed shut with a cork and inside was a rolled up sheet of paper. She didn't know why but for some reason she felt that her sister was still out there somewhere. Somewhere far away, and casting this bottle out into the ocean, maybe there was a chance that it would reach her. The idea was silly and yes she thought twice about doing it but, it didn't hurt to try. "Maybe not now, but one day," She started then tossed the bottle as far as she could out into the water. The tides washed over the glass object and pushed it further and further out to sea until she could no longer see it. "I know, I'll see you again." She finished softly.

"And you will."

A deep voice boomed loudly over the beach. The girl quickly jumped from her spot in the sand and cautiously looked around. The voice sounded loud and close but there was no one in sight. Then, where did the voice come from?

"Wh-who's there?"

She felt a little foolish talking to the air and would prefer seeing the one responsible in person. But still no one stepped forward. The skies quickly began to grow dark than they already were, blocking out the moon and the star lit sky completely leaving nothing but imminent fear looming in the pit of the now horror-struck girl's stomach.

"The darkness is coming for you..."

'_Darkness..?'_

"Wh-what are you.." Her voice trailed off as her eyes bore witness to small shadow like creatures coming up out of the ground. The creatures crawled around the beach ground while others staggered in her direction.

"But don't be afraid, for the darkness shall lead you, if you allow it."

A dark pool of ooze formed around the girl's feet. If not instantly, she freaked out and tried her best to escape the pool of malevolence but she was sinking quickly. She screamed out for help but her cries went unheard and only faded into the night. The scenery around her became twisted and distorted. Wavering, and being swallowed up by the darkness.

"Accept it into your heart. Give into it...and you can see her again."

Her attention was grabbed immediately. Her struggles came to a stop and she, along with the shadowy creatures sunk all the way down into the pool of malevolence.

"I-I can.."

"Yes.." The voice said in a very persuading tone that made the girl feel that he was in fact being very truthful. "Just take my hand, and I shall lead you to her."

It sounded all too simple. In her mind she wanted to refuse, but in her heart, she just wanted to be with her sister again. Her arm extended out to the nothingness, reaching for the hand that the voice told her to grab. Slowly, bands of dark crept up her arm and soon around her legs and midsection. All that was left untouched was her head, which was beginning to feel a little odd. Her body felt a little strange and her veins felt like they were burning and being pierced with daggers. The pain became so intense; she started shifting in and out of consciousness. With all the darkness around her she couldn't tell if she had blacked out or not.

She soon saw a bright flash of light that illuminated the dark area surrounding her form. The bands of darkness suppressing her body dissipated as soon as the light hit them.

_'Hey! I'm sure you're stronger than that!.'_ A cheerful male voice spoke out to the troubled girl.

"Wh-what...what do you mean..?" She asked as she brought her arms up over her eyes to shield out the blinding light. With one eye squinted, she could see a silhouette of a figure with spiky hair standing with a long object over his right shoulder. He was no one she ever seen before.

_'It's a trap.' _He started. _'You give in to him now, you're basically committing suicide. You can't be that gullible can you?'_

"But he said I would be able to-" She sighed. "I-I guess I'm just desperate, you have no idea, what I'm going through, I can't take this..."

_'I can imagine. I lost someone once as well. Two people actually. I was tempted by the darkness many times but I didn't give in. Doing so will only stir up chaos within yourself. I stuck with the path to the light. Yes, it was a long path with many obstacles barring my way but in the end, with the help of new-found friends, I made it through and found those that I lost. I promise the same for you...Serah.'_

"How do you...how do you know my name? More importantly, how do I know I can trust you….."

_'Hmm...' _The figure thought for a moment then quickly remembered something important. He reached down in his pocket and pulled out a black orb the size of a golf ball. He tossed the obsidian object to the girl who caught it in her hands with just a bit of difficulty. She squinted her eyes and held the small object up to the light between her thumb and index finger. "What's this?" She asked while closely observing the tiny orb.

_'A gift..' _He paused. _'It's from Light, she said it will help you on the long-'_

"You know my sister!?"She exclaimed.

"Where is she!?"

"What did she say!?"

"What was that black hole she was sucked up into!?"

"Is she alright!?"

Question after question spilled from the girl's lips but the male didn't have an answer for either one. Only thing he was able to tell her is Light was lost and that finding her would be a difficult task. Serah then slipped back into a state of sadness, just when she thought of her sister's disappearance was solved, it became a clouded mystery again. She started to think it would be an eternity before she was reunited with her, and that was too long. "Guess that's it huh..." She said dourly.

_'Not at all.' _He responded as he extended an arm out to the girl._ 'I'll help you. Light is out there. That I'm sure of. We'll find her together and bring her back, I promise. What do you say, will you go with me?'_

It was easier said than done, she knew this little search was not going to be a simple one and as hard as it was for her to actually believe what this guy was saying, his word was all she had to go by for the time being. She nodded her head and reached for his extended hand. "I'll go, but that doesn't mean I trust you yet."

He laughed. _'Understandable...'_

"Now I have two questions." She stated as the two of them drifted closer and closer to the light. "First, what's with all this dark and light business..? Secondly, what's your name? You know mine but I don't know yours.."

_'The dark and light thing, I'll explain to you soon enough.'_

_'As for my name, it's Sora.'_

:::

The girl's body jerked forward as she sat up to catch her breath. Her heart was racing so fast and beating so loud the sound resonated in her ears. Her bangs were stuck to her forehead from sweating and her body was trembling. "Another one?" She mumbles lightly. By now she thought she'd be used to these dreams since they had been going on for the past three months, but no. something about the dreams were very, vague. And every time she had one, it became more and more..._bizarre._

"Evening sleepyhead." Came a vibrant male voice from the direction of the window.

_'Evening..'_

She thought, immediately looking outside the window. She really didn't even remember falling asleep. The sky was dark with no signs of the moon or any stars, just a naked black sky hovering above the small town. The girl shuddered. Lately, the night was nothing she looked forward to. She wished that there was a way for the day hours to last forever but this was Gran Pulse. Unlike Cocoon, there was no special technology capable of doing such.

Serah slid from her bed but when she did, something slipped from the sheets, clanked against the wooden floor and rolled under the bed. Curious as to what it was, the girl dropped to her knees and peered under the bed. The first few glances she saw nothing, but at the corner of her eye she saw something glistening. Her hand reached out and grabbed the object. "What the?"

She couldn't believe what she was seeing, that orb. That same orb that the boy had gave her in her dream, she was holding it in her hand. But it was a dream, how could it be _here_?

"Hey, you okay, what you got there?" She heard Snow again. But ignored him. She shoved the marble into her pocket and walked directly pass the male and to the kitchen area with no response. So was it really a dream or was she in some other world? And what about this Sora guy who claimed to know her sister. Was he real? Is any of what she's experiencing real?

"Uhm...Serah?"

Reality washed over her again at the sound of the male's voice. She wanted to share her dream with him, if it was even safe to call it that but she knew how he would react. The girl sat up on a stool and dropped her head on the counter top. There was a time when Snow used to try and do anything he could for Serah. Even if it meant giving his own life to keep her happy, he would have. But ever since the disappearance of her sister and the unexplainable things that were happening to her, the two's relationship had been everything but smooth sailing. Snow began spending more time with N.O.R.A. and its new members, pushing her further and further out of the picture. She even noticed the close relationship that him and Lebreau was beginning to develop. The two were spending a great deal of time together mainly in the evening hours. When she would approach him about it he'd always tell her it was N.O.R.A. stuff. But she was smart enough to know differently though, and it hurt her deeply to know that her supposed to be fiancé was cheating on her with her supposed to be best friend but, other things occupied her mind and she could really care less.

"'Nother bad dream?"

She snapped from her reverie and seen the male was standing behind her wearing that obnoxious grin on his face.

"You don't care." She grumbled, turning in the stool to face the male but didn't make eye contact with him. Honestly, she wished he would just go away. His presence alone was enough to annoy her. "Just like everyone else in town you've shunned me.." Her sapphires softened and she turned her back to him once again. Her eyes started to sting from the tears she was trying so desperately to hide from him. "Just leave me alone, I don't need you.."

"Serah I'm sorry it's just the things you're telling is not believable. I thought after three years you'd let this go."

"If I'm going on with something for three years shouldn't you take a hint..? Why would I make this up Snow?"

"I don't know, maybe you're delusional.."

The girl's fist curled against the counter top as her head quickly snapped around in the direction the male was standing, eyes narrowed giving the blond man a hateful glare.

Snow felt like a sitting duck right now. He tried to think of something to correct what he said but his mind was suddenly blank.

"What did you just-"

"Hey there Snow, Oh, and Serah too. Good to see you're finally awake!"

The tension in the room was soon lifted when the tanned brunette girl walked in the room. Snow sighed in relief and flicked away a bead of sweat from his eyebrow.

_'Dodged that bullet.'_ He thought

"Hey Lebreau, what's going on?" He asked, an attempt to clear the air of him and Serah's near fallout.

"Nothing," She quickly heated up some Saké and poured some for them in two ochoko cups. "I'm about to cook up some dinner for everyone, you two sticking around?" She looked at him, then Serah who was swirling her Saké around in her cup.

"No." The pink haired girl objected and stood from the bar stool. "I need to go for a walk so you love birds can have the kitchen.."

"Now, Serah. You know Snow and I are just..._friends._ I know where Snow's heart is, and it's not with me." Lebreau tried to justify to the girl, but her guilty expression was enough to give her away.

"Just how stupid do you think I am?" She asked bitterly. "I've seen the two of you I just.." The girl trailed off. She couldn't figure out whether it was her emotions holding her back from saying what she truly felt or if she really had nothing else to say. "I'm out of here.."

"This late in the night Serah?" Snow shouted before the girl had the chance to take a step forward. "It's dangerous out there, and the monsters are really out at this hour." He said, worried for the girl's safety.

"Stop acting like you care. I'm sure you'd be relieved if something happened to me.."

"Serah how could you say-"

"Shut up!" She shouted more out of frustration than anger at the two. Her eyes lowered to the floor. "I lost everything. I thought that you would be the last person I could turn to but I'm losing you too, and my friends. I've become a _nobody_ amongst everyone. I'm here but no one really acknowledges my existence. Not even you." The girl raised her head and wiped the tears from her eyes. Crying over this was a useless act and all it would cause is for them to pity her. The last thing she wanted.

"Serah I-"

"Save it, I don't care to hear what you have to say..."

She said harshly as she neared the door. Maybe it was best for her and everyone in this town if she just faded away. In a strange way, she already felt like she was. If she did it's not like anyone notice, let alone miss her.

"Oh, and Snow.." She stopped and pulled something from around her neck. Sapphires glanced down at the silver pendant in her hand. The night Snow gave her this gift came back go her mind. It was the night he asked her to marry him. She truly thought the two of them would be together for the rest of their lives but, now she sees just how foolish she was to think something like that was even possible. "You can have this!" The girl threw the necklace across the floor and ran out of the village.

**:::**

The girl sat at the edge of a cliff on the outskirts of the small town. The cool night air always calmed her from the stress that would build up in a single day. It put her at ease. She found herself coming to this spot often when she wanted to get away from the people around her and just be alone. Most of the time, it would be to think. The girl reached down in her pocket and pulled out that orb she had found earlier. Just like in her dream, she held the marble between her thumb and index finger.

_'It's a gift from Light, she said it would help you on your long-"_

Help her on her long what? Now she wished she'd let the boy finish his sentence before she interrupted. But what kind of gift was a marble? She shrugged. She'd probably find out sometime soon but for now, all that mattered is that it was from her sister. This here was proof that she was alive.

"Hope you keep your promise." She stood, a small empty smile shaped her lips. "Sora..." He promised he'd help her find Light but, was he real? What if he was just a figment of her imagination–something that came out of her because she was in a state of trouble. She crossed her fingers and hoped she was wrong.

The girl turned to head back towards town, on the way there, Snow came back to mind. Her stomach twisted. Maybe her overreaction was a little unnecessary; she should probably apologize to both him and Lebreau for jumping to such a ridiculous conclusion without asking questions first. Yes, that's what she would do. They couldn't be too mad at her.

The girl was only about a mile away from the small town when she bumped into a figure and fell back. Serah looked up to see a person dressed in a long dark leather coat standing over her. She could not see their face but it was easy to see that it was a woman from how the figure was shaped. The hooded woman took several steps forward, which ultimately caused Serah to scoot back, putting her closer to the edge of the cliff she was on.

"So you're the one huh? The one the Organization wants." The woman said. "Serah.."

Serah scratched her head as a look of perplexity was visible as her current expression. Organization? Serah blinked several times mostly out of confusion. Who was this woman and what was she going on about? "Uhm...what are you talking about and how do you know my name. Who are you?"

The woman disappeared from sight, further startling the girl. Serah turned around to find the woman now on a high cliff. "It is, such a fragile thing, what you have. But also can be very strong depending upon the person….and your's is just that; strong.." She vanished again and appeared in front of the girl. "Without your's, our source will remain incomplete, no matter how many we continue to collect."

Now she was really confused. It was also adding to her frustration. "What…What are you talking about!? I don't have anything! Now you'd better leave or else…"

"I see," The woman said. She out stretched her arm, and from a mixture of darkness and the element of lightning, a blade appeared. A very familiar one, a gunblade. Serah's heart fell to her feet twice and without a thought, she absently ran to the unknown figure to embrace them but instead she fell right through. "What..?" The girl swiftly snapped her head up but the woman was gone, up on the cliff again.

"Light!" The girl cried out blissfully. "Light! I knew it! I knew it was only a matter of time before you'd show up again!" She smiled as tears of joy rolled over her cheeks. "I almost lost hope but you're here now, and everything can go back to normal!"

"Tch, Light?" The woman pulled back her hood and her appearance surprised Serah. It was her sister, well she looked like her that is, except she had sliver hair and her eyes were a deeper blue.

"It's Acrliex. AC-Rl-IEX! Got it memorized?" The woman stated. "Very deep set of words you had there, almost touched my heart. Oh wait," She smirked. "I don't have one! Anyway, I hope you don't have anyone that will miss you dear girl, because this is where your life comes to an end!" The woman shouted as she leapt from the cliff and darted for the girl while pulling her weapon back for attack.

Serah could do nothing to protect herself so she did the next best thing and shielded herself while calling out to her sister for help. She knew it was the weakest thing she could do but nothing else came to her mind. Naturally no one showed up but when she came from her cowardly position, everything around her was in a frozen state. Her attacker, who was just seconds away from slicing her to pieces, was frozen in front of her. It was as if time itself had completely halted.

"What's.." The marble that she had clenched within her right hand was giving off a purple effulgent glow from the center. The orb rose from her hand and dispersed into an oozy black liquid that stretched, expanded and twisted to create some foreign looking object that fell into Serah's hands. The girl's arms were weighed down immediately upon the object falling into her grasp. Right away she placed it down in the grass. Whatever it was it was definitely heavy, too heavy for her to hold that is.

The dark oozy substance cleared from the object and what laid in front of her was some weird looking weapon. A curved notched blade, smoky red in color while the rest of the blade's body was black. At the base, were teeth that curved in at the top but stuck outward towards the bottom. The keychain at the base of the hilt was a black heart x'ed out in red. "What..what is-"

The blade vanished from sight for a few seconds then appeared within her hand. "What, what the!?" Just then, time went back into motion and Acrliex's sword clashed down against the one Serah possessed. "What, a keyblade?" The woman leapt back then dashed forward again for another attack.

"A what?" Serah asked, trying to maintain her balance. The woman was obviously much stronger than Serah. Between the weight of the sword and the weight being pushed against the sword her legs gave in. Acrliex slashed upward, forcing the girl out of defense mode and impaled her sword into the girl's chest.

Serah's eyes bulged and as bizarre as it may have been, there was no pain, however she did feel –No, she didn't feel anything, she couldn't feel. A ball of light emerged from the center of the girl's chest and hovered in front of her. Inside, was a heart. The pink haired girl, along with what that woman called the_keyblade _fell backwards. At this point, everything felt like it was transpiring in slow motion. She reached her arm out to grab for the edge so she could pull herself back up, when pain ripped across her brain hindering her from doing so.

_"Wh-what's happening to me!?" she screamed out, yet her lips did not move._

_"You'll be fine Serah..trust me." She heard another voice invading her thoughts._

_"__Sora..__"_

_"Serah, __you have to be strong, that's the only way you'll get through this..__"_

_"__How, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do or why these things are happening to me..Sora I-I'm scared.."_

_"Don't worry about those things right now. There's no need to be scared. __Use the keyblade, it'll protect you.__"_

"_W__hat's with this __key__blade?"_

_"I can't explain that at the moment Sera__h, just do what I told you and don't let your heart falter or else you'll lose the keyblade..__"_

**:::**

"So-ra..."

Serah mumbled as she opened her eyes, she was still free-falling towards the water and that woman was right on her heels. "I-I can't do this..." She shook her head and started to weep. Though Sora told her what to do, she doubted it was the right thing. Since this whole occurrence began she's doubted a number of things, even herself.

She looked down at the weapon in her hand and came to notice it had an ominous dark aura channeling through it. "What's-" The blade yanked her arm forward as if it had a mind of its own. The dark aura around it grew stronger. Tendrils of darkness curled their way down her arm and spread across her body.

_'Serah!'_

"Ahhgh!" A pain shot across her brain again as the voice echoed in her mind. A foreign feeling crept over her, a feeling she was not quite familiar with.

_'Serah listen to me, stop putting doubt into your mind, you're weakening your heart!'_

The power started to course through her, the energy so great she could feel the good side of her slipping away, disappearing.

"Nygh!" Another pain tore across her head and another voice became present, a much deeper voice. Serah recognized the voice from the dream she previously had.

_'Yes, yes give in..allow it to consume you.'_

Voice after voice echoed throughout her mind, both trying to tell her which path was the right to choose. And the headaches she received every time one of them spoke wasn't making her issue any better. She felt like her head was going to explode.

"STOOOOOOOOOP!"

An ebony sphere formed around the girl and engulfed her entire form. Acrliex who was still falling towards the girl, thrusted her sword forward for one last strike but was surprised when her blade struck against something metallic. The dark sphere vanished and there was Serah, though her appearance had dramatically changed. Her hair was silver, her eyes were of a golden tint, the complexion of her skin was much paler, and she now wore a black and red body suit that had the symbol of a heart x'ed out in red at the center of her chest.

The girl rose her foot then kicked Acrliex directly in the torso, sending the woman's form plummeting into the water below. Serah knew that wasn't the end of the woman, it was too easy. How right she was. As she landed into the shallow part of the water, the woman emerged from the deep debts of the water and studied Serah's new appearance. "How in the world..." It was a mystery of how the girl was able to maintain her body as well as take on the form of a heartless at the same time. She had no heart...

Her heart!

"Damn!" Her eyes shot up at the cliff's edge where the Serah's heart still sat floating in the air. That's all she had really come for so why was she still waiting time fighting this girl? Acrliex casted her arm forth and a dark portal appeared. The woman stepped one foot inside but Serah quickly grabbed her arm and tossed her back a few feet. "Trying to flee?" She twirled her blade between her fingers as she planted her feet against the wet sand. "I don't think so." Serah smirked and beckoned for the woman to attack her.

Feeling a sense of mockery coming from the girl, the woman charged at her again. Serah simply raised her sword to block every attack with little to no effort at all and laughed. "And you called me the weak one? You know, you shouldn't go up against people you can't defeat!" The girl slashed at the woman's weapon ultimately breaking the woman's sword in half.

Riled, the woman casted the spell of Thundaga in means to hit the girl and failed. Serah thrusted the arm containing the keyblade in the air and consumed the electrical spell within the weapon. "Here," She spun the weapon a few times then pointed it at Acrliex. "This is for you!" The spell exploded from the base of the blade with a mixture of darkness and was sent back at Acrliex. The bolt struck the woman and her body bounced back twice, the electric current still surged through her body briefly rendering her useless. "Pathetic, fool…." Serah said drolly. "I have other things that require my attention yet I'm wasting time on you.._._" She scuffed and vanished to the cliff where her heart sat, giving off a radiant glow of pureness. "Disgusting...who needs something so weak when you have something greater and more powerful on your side; the _darkness__._" Her hand hovered under the object and slowly darkened it to a violet color, tainting it and disposing it of its pureness.

Acrliex stood to her feet, albeit being in a state of weakness from the girl attacking her. "What…a waste.." The woman responded through harbored breath. She casted her hand out and a black portal appeared. "The organization isn't…going to be happy about this when….I inform them on what happened. In the meantime, you'd better watch your back.." The woman walked into the portal and it vanished into the air.

Only a few seconds later, did another portal appear and out walked another figure dressed in a coat identical to the one Acrliex had worn. The figure clapped its hands as they made their way towards the girl. Serah pointed the keyblade at the figure, a threat to get him to stop but he kept coming until he halted a few feet in front of her. "Well done." The man said in a congratulatory manner.

"And you might be who?" She asked still keeping the blade directed at the hooded male. Just where were these figures coming from?

"So you decided to give in after all.." He said ignoring his question. The male began to circle her, observing her appearance. "Just what we needed, another strong being added to the organization."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not open for recruitment, especially not with this…organization. I'm searching for someone and don't have time for the likes of you or any of those other outcasts dressed in black. So unless you want trouble," Pools of black became present in various areas around Serah and the hooded man. From their wakes came blue and black enemies with red eyes. "I think we should go our separate ways."

"Your search is a waste, You'll never find her for she is lost to those who don't know where to look." He casted out his hand for her to take, a portal opened up behind him. "But I know where she is. Come with me Serah, I can take you to her, she's waiting for you.." He smirked though she didn't see it.

The girl's eyes narrowed and she slowly lowered her blade to the ground. She was more than willing to follow him to where ever her sister was. Be it the deepest depts of the darkness where he came from, she'd go. But a side of her was rejecting her from going anywhere with him. Something about him just rubbed her the wrong way. "You're lying…" She gripped her blade within her hands again and pointed it at the figure. "You're lying to me!" She shouted out loud then lunged at the hooded male with the army of strange enemies tailing her.

The figure remained still until the girl was only inches away. From nothing appeared a thick black sword that looked as if it was crafted from the wings of some unknown creature. The hooded man swung the sword horizontally and Serah swiftly parried with a quick backflip and dash to the right of the hooded male.

The massive blade clashed with the water, splitting the waters from the great impact and causing it to splash and spray in all directions. The enemies that Serah had summoned were now scattered around the beach, recovering from the attack, if they weren't dead.

"You're finished!" Serah yelled as she swung her sword towards the figure's head but missed when he vanished. "What the!?"

The figure appeared above the girl, watching as she frantically looked around to find him. He laughed and made his location known by calling out to her. "Up here foolish girl!" By the time Serah gazed up at the male, he released a blast of energy from the strange red crystal on his hilt. The blast threw Serah back and slammed her into a wall.

"Nygk…" She coughed a bit then slowly pulled herself from the chunks of rocks she was wedged between. Sore and fatigued, the girl stuck the keyblade into the damp sand and leaned against it to support her weight. The figure stood several feet away from her, calm and obviously waiting for her next attack.

"You…" She breathed deeply as she pulled the weapon from the ground.

Unable to maintain her balance, Serah's form fell to the ground. Her appearance switched back to normal making her feel weaker than she already was. "Wh-who are you?" She whispered aloud, enough for the ominous man to hear. "Nygk.. why-why are y-you doing this..this t-to me…"She rolled over in the sand and bought a hand up over her chest, where she started to develop an unpleasant feeling –a feeling almost equivalent to suffocation and a little bit of pain. A dark aura, the same dark aura that was channeling through her weapon was now flowing through her body. She winced as the pain started growing more and more intense to the point she couldn't breathe. "N-no…not this.." Again she was feeling herself fade away.

The hooded man moved from his place and was now rushing her way to attack the defenseless girl. Just then, the keyblade appeared within her hand and before the man could strike her down, Serah raised the sword up though she was still fighting away the dark side of her; she wasn't going to let herself be killed. The man's sword clashed with her own again for what seemed like the millionth time in that evening.

"Wh-what do you want from me…."

The man leaped back and swiftly bought his sword over his shoulder. "Your heart!" The man slammed his oversized blade down against the ground, releasing some form of energy from it that traveled across the ground and struck Serah. The aftershock left a long fissure against the ground. The hooded man lifted his sword from the ground and slowly approached the girl's limp figure on the ground.

Serah stared lifelessly up at the sky. In all honesty, she was ready to give up. Whatever this man wanted to do with her he could. She didn't care anymore. She just wanted this horrible ordeal to end. The dark Aura that was flowing around her body grew stronger as her thoughts became more and more negative.

_'Serah no, don't!'_

"Ah-ahgh!" She flinched. Another wave of pain made itself present and swam across her brain when Sora's voice resonated in her mind again.

_'You can't give up now!'_

Finding this to be a great opportunity, the hooded man picked up Serah's limp body and carried her over to a portal that he opened up. Serah could hear everything around her but she couldn't move any part of her body. She could think but not all the thoughts were her own. Her eyes remained half-opened, but continuously switched between gold and sapphire blue. She felt almost paralyzed.

"S-sora..." She spoke out slowly, trying to push the heartless part of her out. "H-help..me.." It was a strain, but she managed to stretch a hand outside the portal of black as it slowly started to swallow her and the hooded man. She felt herself slipping away again, and the dark side of her pushing its way back to the front. It was hopeless; her dark side was much stronger than she was. "I-I..." Her conscious was slipping again, she was fading.. "I c-can't.. I can't do this!" Her arm dropped and her body fell backward, into the depts of the darkness.

**:::**

She'd expected to feel nothing, but she was wrong. Her body felt warm like someone was embracing her. Maybe she was dead or in some unknown dimension but she didn't care. She felt at ease here. Where ever _here_ was.

"Serah.." A voice called.

The girl didn't respond. She didn't want to.

"Serah, open your eyes.." The voice demanded but it seemed to echo slightly. The girl peeled her eyes open half way. At first sight, everything appeared bleary but when everything cleared, hovering over her was a brunette male with spiked hair. Serah still remained unresponsive for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what was going on around her. This was nothing at that second in time. Her eyes lazily trailed back to the male that was holding her up in his arms. He was no one of familiarity to her and wondered who he was and where he had suddenly came from. "Wh-who are…." Her sentence went unfinished when she passed out. The male set her down on the ground then gazed in the direction of the hooded man. "You want her; you'll have to go through me!"

The hooded male held his hand over his wounded torso where the brunette male had struck him. It didn't show much but he was able to tell the man was in critical condition by how slow he was walking. With the last bit of strength he had, the hooded man rose his blade up at the sky. Oblivious to what he was doing, the brunette male just stood back and watched while keeping his defenses up.

The red crystal at the hilt of the man's blade glowed a purple-ish color and no more than a few seconds after, a beam shot up at the sky. The brunette male studied the skies and soon noticed a cluster of dark clouds began to form. "This..this is not good.." The cluster grew bigger and bigger until it blotted out the crystal structure at the center of the ocean. It pulsed and flickered as an orange core became visible at the center.

"We will meet again. When we do..it'll be the end for the both of you.." The man then vanished within the portal.

The brunette male ran to Serah's side and attempted to shake her awake but that did not work. In a rush, he grabbed the girl's weapon and scooped her up from the ground when a bright flash of light emitted from the center of her chest.

"Hmmmm!?" He hummed in surprise. The girl's appearance was rapidly changing and the glow was becoming brighter and brighter as her appearance reverted back to its original state. Eventually, the light grew bright enough to the point that the male had to put her down and take a few steps back. Serah's body lay against the ground as a ball of dark energy rose up from her chest and combined with the weapon.

The keyblade's color darkened then the weapon itself dispersed into tiny balls of dark that splattered all over the ground. The burnette male observed from a distance as the inky ooze clustered together and what rose from the ground was one of those shadow heartless, but instead of having usual glowing yellow orbs for eyes, this creature had blue ones.

The male aimed his weapon at the creature, ready to blast it away with the spell of Firaga but what the creature did next stopped him from doing heartless just shied away behind Serah's unconscious body. He lowered his weapon and it disappeared from sight. The shadow didn't pose as any threat and as bad as he wanted to rid of it, he couldn't.

After a few seconds, the light slowly began to fade away but Serah remained unconscious. The male's eyes went back to that blob in the sky and his worries began to grow. He remembered when a similar event occurred the night he and his friends were torn away from their home. This world was about to cease to exist for a long time. Serah had to live somewhere around here, and that meant others did as well. Everyone will have to evacuate quickly or else they'll…

He shook his head. There was no time to think about what could happen, he had to find a way to prevent innocent people from being swallowed up by that thing. Scooping Serah up from the ground, he rushed around the island looking for civilization so he could warn others of the doom that was coming.

**:::**

_"Call me Light.."_

"_What?" The girl blinked and tilted her head to the side at her sister's odd request. "Light? but your name is Claire." She stated simply. "Why do you want me to call you Light?"_

_"Because, I want you to know that it doesn't matter where you are, or where you go, there is always light..and that's me..I'll always be with you Serah."_

"Light!"

Serah's eyes shot open and she quickly sat up in bed, regretting it a few seconds later when her head started throbbing. "Gah!" She held her head between her hands and drew her knees to her chin for her head to rest on. Taking a look around, she realized she was in her own home again. One place she really didn't want to be. Snow or one of the others must have found her and bought her back here. She could barely remember anything. Only thing she did remember is that woman Acrliex stabbing her. After that everything went blank. "What happened…what's happening to me..?" She mumbled. She wished that everything would just go back to the way it used to be. But the more she wished for that, the worse things became. There was a saying that things were going to get worse before they got better but in this case there was not better. From here things were only going to continue to get worse. She felt it.

Her attention was drawn to the foot of her bed when a shadow creature hopped up on the bed and scurried beside her. Right away, Serah made a high pitched scream loud enough to shatter windows. The brunette male was just on his way to check on her when she knocked him on the floor to escape the dark creature that was chasing her! "Kill it kill it kill it!" She squealed.

The male shook his head after the surprised clash then stood to his feet. His eyes tried to keep up with the girl who was running around the room at what seemed to be lightning speed; ultimately, he became dizzy and gave up. "Woah, relax Serah, it's not going to hurt you." He laughed then knelt down to the dark creature that leapt up on his head. Serah stopped her frantic running around and finally took a seat at the counter. She didn't notice it earlier but she was tired and her head ache came back in an instant. The male sat the creature down on the counter and it approached the girl with caution. Serah flinched away, scaring the shadow and it quickly ducked back behind the male. "I wasn't too fond of it when I first saw it myself but, it didn't hurt anyone. So how are you feeling Serah..?"

"Awful!" She complained "Ah-wait, how do you know my name? Who are you?" It felt like she had asked that question a billion times today, but she couldn't quite remember if anyone gave her a proper answer.

"It's me, Sora!" The male exclaimed. "But nevermind that, Serah we have to get out of here!" He pulled back the curtain to reveal the reason for his statement.

"Wh-what is that!?"

"Darkness, and it will soon swallow this entire place. I tired warning that bone-head blonde guy but he thinks I'm making it up and so does everyone else. I mean, you see it don't you Serah!?" He pulled the curtains back again, this time so she could take a long stare at it.

She nodded. For some reason she felt like she had seen something like that before but could not remember where. "Say, Sora…" She called to him absently whilst trying to dig out of her mind exactly where in her past she had seen this before. "What…what's going on? All of this, why's it happening…?"

Sora pulled out the other stool next to the girl and sat down. His eyes drifted outside the window as he tried to come up with a way to break the issue down in a way that made sense. "Well, to start it off Serah, this is not the first time this has occurred." He folded his arms across his chest and bought his eyes back towards the girl. "Something like this occurred around four years ago, with a man named Xemnas."

"Xem..nas?" Again she was absently talking.

He nodded then went on with his story. "Xemnas was the head leader of a group of nobodies that went by the name of Organization XIII. Their objective was to steal as many hearts possible to power a source known as Kingdom Hearts so they could become whole again. Xemnas on the other hand had other plans for Kingdom Hearts. He didn't wish to become whole or regain his heart, but to become one with Kingdom hearts so he could use the power of it to reconstruct the world in his own image. He almost succeeded but in the end, he was destroyed." Sora stood from the stool and stalked back towards the window. "That raises another…question." He said slowly, as though he was trying to make sense of something. "Xemnas and all the members of the organization are gone. Then I wonder who that man was. What's he want with you? His goal can't be the same as Xemnas. At least I don't think so.."

"Well perhaps, this won't be the last time we see him. I mean, if he's after me, then I'm sure we'll cross paths with him again sometime down the line. He may even lead us to Light."

Sora nodded. "Definitely, but first we have to focus on getting everyone out of here and quick!"

Snow barged through the doors mumbling something that went along the lines of _stupid kid_ and went straight towards the refrigerator without even acknowledging Serah or Sora's presence at the time.

"If anyone is stupid here it's you!" Sora retorted, turning to face the male with a look of disgust. "How can you sit here and tell me you and the others don't see that blob in the sky! If you stay here you're gonna be swallowed alive and turned into heartless!"

"Heh, heartless..you hear this guy, Serah?" Snow grabbed the latter's arm and pulled her towards the door, like her body wasn't aching enough his strength made it even worse. "Snow you're hurting me.."

He ignored her complaint and pointed to the sky. "Tell him there is nothing there, only the crystal pillar!"

She had to disagree with Snow. The dark blob was bigger than the crystal pillar it practically blacked it out like it wasn't there. The orange pulsing core at the center made her tear her eyes away from it. For some unexplainable reason, that blob struck fear into her. "I-I uhm..Snow it's there.."

"What!?" He unintentionally pushed the girl to the side to get the brunette male. He grabbed Sora up by the collar and started shaking him back and forth. "Now you got her believing your nonsense too!?"

"It's not nonsense you idiot!" Sora argued. " It's there! You're just too blind to see it!" A hard punch was delivered to the right side of the brunette's face that sent him flying back outside the house and on to the sandy surface.

"Snow!" Serah scolded then ran to the hurt male's aid. It took a minute or two for him to regain stability after that unexpected hit. Sora held his cheek and rubbed it. A bit of blood spilled from his lip that he wiped away with his finger. "You want to die, fine by me. But I'm not leaving without Serah! I promised someone I'd look after her and that promise will not be broken."

"You have a lot of guts. First you parade around here with your nonsense and now you're trying to take Ser-"

The sound of screaming people filled all of their ears. Sora and Serah both rushed over to the window and peeked outside to see the sky had turned a purple-ish grey color and little black creatures were roaming about wreaking havoc among the town's people. The heartless even made their way into the house! Snow may not have seen it earlier but he was able to see it now. "What the hell are these things!?" He picked up a nearby bat and bashed a few of the creatures away.

"Oh now you see them! It's a bit late for that don't you think!" Sora tore through the heartless with a simple swing from his blade. The creatures dissolved into dust and left behind a heart that vanished into the air. "Just go round up as many people as you can find! Get to somewhere safe. Serah and I will handle things here. Now go!" He gestured by pointing his keyblade towards the door and Snow ran without another word. "Alright Serah," He held his weapon tight at the hilt as more of the dark creatures began to raid the small home. "We'll have to fight our way through to get out, so you take one side and I'll-" A shaky gasp pulled his attention to the girl pressed against the wall. Serah was frozen in terror by the ten yellow eyed creatures that were closing in on her.

"Serah!" He cut through a few more of the shadows to get to the girl when a loud crash was heard from above and the ceiling caved in, bringing down more of the creatures. With all the debris now blockading his path to Serah, he had no other choice but to try and find another way to get to her. More and more of the shadow like creatures rounded up near the girl. To Serah, it seemed like it was nothing but a wall of black with thousands of glowing eyes just staring at her.

Sora's head searched around until his eyes landed on the blue-eyed heartless that appeared to be trying to fight off the heartless as well. It was kind of odd watching a heartless fight against another heartless.

"Hmm, I wonder if…" Remembering something from earlier, Sora cut through the shadows to clear a path and dashed over to the creature. If he was correct then Serah would be able to protect herself. "Alright little guy, you're about to take a short trip into the air. Serah, catch!"

The girl looked to see the heartless flying over the wall of debris. She reached out to catch the heartless but her arms were immediately weighed down. "Wh-what!?" She looked down; in her hands was that weapon again.

"Figured…" Sora mumbled to himself. The heartless was her keyblade. He shouted to the girl to use the weapon to take out the heartless on that side and he'll take out the rest. After hearing those words all she could hear was the sound of Sora's weapon slashing away at the enemies while hearts rose and vanished into the air. She could barely lift the weapon off the ground, but Sora swung the thing around like it was a playtoy. It'll probably take some time to get us to but until then, she'd use it to the best of her ability.

She grabbed the hilt with both hands then did a swift spin while bringing the sword over her shoulder. The blade hit around seven of the heartless and they vanished. "Alright!" She celebrated, but that was only the start. It was going to take more than one swing to get rid of the rest of them, if that were even possible.

Another loud crash broke through the roof only this time it was a large dark hand. The hand managed to clear away enough of the debris for her to spot the brunette male. Serah dashed towards Sora to join him at his side to fight off the rest of the heartless but, another hand came crashing in, this time hitting them both. Their forms bounced a few feet in the air and landed outside the now destroyed house.

Serah's body twitched slightly as she regained the ability to move. She slowly sat up and shook her head before opening her eyes. Everything was twisted with a slight blur but she was still able to make out her surroundings and she didn't like it one bit. The girl slowly stood to her feet, a distraught expression on her face as she took a thorough look around. Everything was destroyed and over run by those creatures. And She couldn't even begin to imagine what could have happened to all the people as well as her friends. She only hoped that they made it to safety, wherever that was. It also seemed like they were drawing nearer to the dark blob.

"Serah watch out!" Too caught up in the destruction of her home, she failed to notice the hand that was about to attack her. The male threw himself toward the girl, just as a giant hand was coming to swipe at her. Lucky it missed them both by just a few inches. "You okay?" He asked then helped her up from the ground.

She nodded, though she really wasn't. "Y-yeah, sorry about that…"

The two looked up to witness a giant black creature with a heart shaped hole that stretched down the center of its body. The creature swung at the two again but this time Sora grabbed on to its hand and climbed up its arm. "Serah, when I tell you, I want you to attack its legs alright!"

The giant raised its arms up over its head as if he were summoning something. A sphere of black was created and the giant slammed its hand down to the ground. The dark sphere burst into tiny dark droplets that rained down from the sky and turned into those small heartless again.

Serah took them out with ease but every time she destroyed them more popped up. "Sora…" She called while still swing the blade at the heartless. She was finding it more and easier to handle the more she used it. "Whatever you're doing, can you please hurry…"

A loud piercing cry from the giant rang in Serah's ears. She glanced up to see Sora hanging on to the hilt of his weapon while the giant heartless flailed its arms about and swung its head from side to side because of Sora's blade being impaled between its eyes. "Woooah-ah! Serah now!" He yelled, trying his best to keep his grip as the beast moved about.

It was hard for her to do at first because of all the stumbling around the heartless was doing but she did it. She struck the creature's feet and it fell back with a loud boom. Sora pulled his blade from its place between the monster's eyes and prepared to deliver the final blow but a very strong gust of wind blew over them both and swept them across the air. He quickly grabbed Serah's hand then managed to stop himself by grabbing onto a piece of metal wedged in the ground. The giant heartless he had planned to kill off was carried off into the air and dissipated into that giant ball of darkness in the sky. Apparently, that's where everything was going, and so would they if he lost his grip.

The gusts of wind were growing stronger by every passing second and the piece of metal Sora was hanging onto was yanked from the ground. "Serah don't let go of my hand!" The gust swept the two up and carried them towards the blob of darkness. Serah did her best to keep her grip on Sora's hand, there was no way she was about to be separated from him. Where ever she would end up next she'd rather be there with someone, than alone.

A strong gust swept over both of them and loosened their grip. Sora could feel his fingers slipping from the sweat forming at his palms. He began to panic so he reached out with his other hand and grabbed hold of her other hand. The two held on until it was just their fingertips that were keeping them together. It was a great struggle and they tried, they really tried not to be separated from each other but another big gust hit them and their fingers slipped away from each other's.

"Gah! Serah no!" He reached his arm out to grab her but it was too late. They were yanked off in different directions.

"SORRAAAAAAA!" She tried to swim against the gusty winds to get back to him but it was useless the wind continued to push her back.

Both were sucked up into the dark blob unaware of where they would end up next…..

_**A/N: Well that's that. It's Long as hell and it took me forever to write. I went in and kept changing a lot of things. But yes recently I went back and played kingdom hearts I and II as well as final fantasy xiii. Got my imagination working and that's how this story came to be. It's my first Fanfic but I hope it's good so far. Yea some parts may come off as confusing but, it'll all come together as the story progresses. :/ Anyway, criticism is welcome, just as long as it's not done in a rude manner. I don't know when the next chapter will be posted, but I will say probably around two or three weeks**__**…..four at the most. **__**I want to take my time on this Fic. :) Review please and let me know what you think and how you feel. :] Depending on the amount of reviews I get for this chapter will determine whether or not I post up the next.**_


	2. Chosen One

_**Chapter 2: Chosen One**_

"Gawrsh, do you think she's alright Donald?"

"I don't know, but who is she?

"Huh…" Serah opened her eyes to a bright blue cloudless sky. She sat up and shook her head a few times before looking around. There was greenery everywhere bushes cut into shapes of different characters and inanimate objects such as lawn mowers and watering cans at work without anyone around to put them in motion. "What the…where, where am I?"

She stood up and was about to start walking around the garden until her shoulder was grabbed. "Who are you!?" A weird voice asked.

Serah turned around to see a duck and a dog standing before her with their weapons drawn like they were ready to attack her. "Identify yourself or you'll be thrown in the dungeon for trespassing!" The duck said pointing his staff out at her.

'_A talking duck….'_

Serah raised her arms up over her head. "I mean no harm….duck and dog, I-I don't even know how I got here.

"That's Donald and Goofy to you, and we are King Mickey's loyal subjects!" He stated.

"King who…loyal subjects of what..?" She blinked. "Yea that's a nice little joke but I'm kind of looking for someone so-"

Before she had the chance to finish her sentence, black portals appeared and many heartless began pouring out of them and began wreaking havoc around the garden. Serah's keyblade appeared within her hand, catching the attention of the two characters.

"Ah! That keyblade! Goofy she's affiliated with the organization!" Goofy shouted.

"What no I'm not. How'd you come to that ridiculous conclusion!?" Serah retorted. The heartless surrounded the three of them.

"Thunder!" Donald shouted. A single bolt ripped down from the sky and struck a few of the heartless, causing them to disperse into dust. Another portal opened up, spilling out another batch of the dark creatures.

"This is bad.." Donald said, stating the obvious.

"You think?" Serah responded. "Look we have to get rid of these heartless. Duck you take that side, dog you take that end over there, and I'll attack the center!"

"Who are you to come shooting orders at us, you organization affiliate! We only take orders from our king!" Donald shouted in a rather angry tone at the girl.

"For the last time, I'm not with the organization. If was I would be banding with these creatures to destroy you. Am not correct!?" She said stepping out and sweeping her weapon at the three heartless that so bravely jumped out at her.

Donald grumbled. She was right. Now wasn't the time to be discriminating. That could wait until later. Right now they had to get rid of these heartless. "Alright, let's do this."

Goofy ran to the right while Donald ran to the left. Serah stayed at the center and handled the heartless there. The three fought together until the garden was cleared of all heartless. They doubled checked around to make sure that none were hiding out anywhere. "All clear Goofy shouted."

"Good. Guards!" Donald shouted. A group of seven suits of armor circled around Serah pointing their swords up at her neck.

"H-hey! What is this all of a sudden!? I just helped you guys out!" Serah said, glaring down at the stubborn duck.

"You're under suspicion." Donald started.

"Suspicion!?" Serah repeated.

"Until we can clear that you're not with the organization you're under arrest. Take her to the king!" Donald said gesturing the guard into the castle.

'But I'm not! How many times do I have to stress it!?" She kicked and pulled but the enchanted armor had a very tight grip on her arms. Donald and Goofy walked ahead of the armor as they lead them into the castle. Goofy gave Donald a doubtful stare then turned his eyes to Serah who was now quiet and just blankly staring down at her feet.

"I don't know Donald," Goofy said, with much doubt in his voice. "I believe she is telling us the truth. She did have a point. If she was with the organization why would she help us destroy the heartless?"

"We can't take chances Goofy! She could be tricking us!."

The doors to the castle opened and they all walked inside. Serah looked around, observing all of her very odd surrounding. Again inanimate objects were at work on their own. Funny looking characters passed by, staring and whispering as they watched Serah walk by, being heavily guarded by enchanted armor. The castle itself was of very odd in shape and not to mention, unnecessarily huge. She felt like an ant walking through here. This place reminded her of a funhouse that would be found at a festival.

"Wait here." Donald said as they approached a tall white door. The duck pushed open a small door and He and Goofy walked inside, allowing the door to shut behind them.

Serah slightly inched towards the door and placed her ear against it. She was able to hear a little bit of what was being said but not enough. So she puhed the small door open slightly, drawing the attention of the armor who pointed their weapons at her. "Alright alright!" She stepped back from the door but made sure she kept the door cracked to hear what was going on inside.

"Your Majesty!" She heard Donald call out.

"We found a girl in the garden; we think she's affiliated with The Organization. She wields the forbidden keyblade!" Donald said.

"Great so now this thing is _allegedly_ forbidden?" . If it was so forbidden what was it doing with her? More importantly why would Light give her something that would get her into trouble?

"Bring her to me right away." This had to be bad. What if she gets executed or something!? She had to find a way to get out of here.

"Bring her in." Donald said as he pulled open the door. The armor shoves her into the hall making sure to stay close behind her. Serah felt her heart leap into her throat and beads of sweat start pouring off her forehead. "Time to go heh-heh!" Serah said. She wasn't trying to stick around here any longer. She dashed to the right and ran around the suits of armor.

"Armor!" The mouse said calmly, and those enchanted suits of metal were after her again. She was right at the door but several suits of the armor slid out in front of her while another set lined up in the back of her, blocking her way from both directions.

"Great.." she mumbled in defeat.

The armor grabbed her arms and began escorting her back towards the king. "Ahhh! Let me go let me go! I didn't do anything!"

The armor shoved her towards the mouse and she fell to the floor in front of him. The armor lined up behind her to make sure she she wouldn't make another escape attempt.

Serah looked up from the floor at the mouse who was still staring at her strangely. It wasn't a stare like he was angry at her or anything. But it was an unusual one that made the girl feel quite uncomfortable. "I-I'm sorry Mr. Mouse I-I didn't mean to-Ouch!" She rubbed the top of her head after that stubborn duck bashed her with his staff.

"You don't speak until you are told to." He scolded. "And it's King Mickey to you!"

'_King Mickey..?'_

She thought to herself. This little mouse was a king? "King Mickey I'm sorry I didn't do this intentionally, but I mean no harm I promise! I don't even know how I got here. I-I'm just looking for my friend Sora he-"

"Sora!?" He cut in, stopping the girl's rambling. Mickey, Donald and Goofy all looked at one another in surprise while Serah just looked around confused.

"You know Sora!?" Mickey asked,

"Uhm, Yes. Why do you all sound so surprised?" She asked.

Mickey hopped down from his chair and walked off to the side of the side. Serah's eyes followed. Mickey's face now showed that of a worried expression. "Sora had disappeared several months ago. I was about to send him on an errand when he suddenly vanished. We asked around but no one seemed to know who he was or what he looked like. Only Donald, Goofy, myself and a few of his other friends were able to remember him."

Jaw fell open. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who had someone disappear. Maybe all these disappearances were connected. They had to be. They know Sora and Sora know's Light. "The exact same thing has happened to me as well. My sister vanished three years ago and I have not seen her since. No one remembers her but me.."

"Hmmm, as I expected. You're Light's sister. No?" Mickey asked.

Serah nodded. "Ah, how? You know my sister!?" There was a connection after all. So she's on the right path after all.

"Hm. Last time I seen her was about a decade and a half ago. She was my apprentice for the Mark of Mastery Exam, an exam to become a keyblade master. At the time she was too young. She even asked my master but he turned her down. She then came to me. I almost turned her away as well but when she explained to me her reason I couldn't turn her down. She told me she could feel that something dangerous was coming and knew where it was coming from and wanted to stop it." Mickey explained.

"That," He pointed to the keyblade in her hand. "What you're holding was the imminent danger and still is. That keyblade was forged. A real one is made from both darkness and light but that one is composed of nothing more than darkness. It's known as the Sealed Will keyblade." He said.

"Ever since that weapon was crafted it's caused a number of disturbances, the dark forces are much stronger, and they want that keyblade. For what? It's still a mystery to us all."

"Well they can have it!" She tossed the keyblade down in front of the mouse's feet. "Because I don't want it. It has caused me a great deal of trouble." The weapon vanished from the floor and appeared back in her hand much to her dismay.

"The dark forces not only want the keyblade but the chosen wielder as well. Sealed Will may be a dangerous weapon but it is also a very unique and special one. When Light bout the weapon to me I locked its power away and told her to make sure it only falls into the hands of the right person."

"Why did it choose me!?" She slammed down the weapon again and it slid across the floor." I don't want this thing. I just want to go home and go back to my normal life.." She already knew the weapon would appear within her hands again, in a few seconds but she felt that maybe if she tried over and over again the weapon would get the picture and stop returning to her. But for some reason it didn't.

"Things happen Serah," Mickey explained. "And sometimes it may not be the things that you want but in the end, it could lead to something good. I can't tell you why the keyblade chose you but I know someone who could." He stepped down two stairs and walked in the direction of his loyal subjects.

"Donald, Goofy,"

"Yes your majesty!" The two stood at attention.

"Take Serah over to Master Yen Sid, I'll inform him of your arrival."

"Yes your Majesty!" They said together.

"No worries Serah," Mickey said placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. He remembered when Sora was the exact same way when he first started out with the keyblade. "Things will get better in due time."

"Yeah right, for me things seem to be getting worse." She said morosely.

"Well Serah things are always going to get worse before-"

"Before they get better, right?" She shook her head in disagreement. First her sister vanishes, then her home town was swallowed up by darkness. Now she's running around in foreign lands trying to find answers, only to receive more questions. "I've been through a hell of a lot already, and nothing seems to be getting better."

"It seems to me it has." He pointed over to Donald and Goofy. "You've come across new friends to help you along the way, and believe me, they are very trustable."

"Yeah." Goofy added. Donald and I are sorry for attacking ya back there. We were just a little shocked is all. Right Donald?"

"Yeah yeah." The duck said rolling his eyes.

Serah smiled slightly. She felt better. A little."I guess your right King Mickey."

"Here." Mickey reached down into his pocket and placed something in the palm of the girl's hand. It was an odd star shaped trinket.

"What's this?" Serah asked, still observing the object.

"It's called a Star Shard. Use it to teleport yourself to a different location. But be sure the area you wish to travel to is clear in your mind."

"Hmm…" Serah nodded and placed the shard in her pocket. "Thank you King Mickey."

:::

"Alright so we are here why are we not boarding the train?"

"It's not here yet." Donald said and sat down on the ground.

Serah turned around and looked at the many trains being boarded by passengers. Then back at Donald. Uhm, yea I see that. It's because the trains are on that side Donald. Why are we standing over here? There aren't even any tracks on this side, and look." She pointed to the space where the wall stood, showing him it was impossible for a train to come through. "There is a wall there. Last I checked trains don't travel through walls. They'll do something that sounds like CRASH!"

"Quiet!" Donald quacked, becoming annoyed by the girl's rambling.

"Geez, Okay okay." She walked and stood next to Goofy since he seemed to be the positive one out of him and Donald. "Goofy shouldn't we be boarding one of those trains, because according to common sense, a train is not going to come through a wall!"

Goofy giggled. "It's a magical train Serah, created by the great Sorcerer, Master Yen Sid. You'll see."

A few seconds later a train did exactly what she predicted it wouldn't do and passed through the wall. She was more than surprised. "Woah.."

"Told you." Donald growled.

:::

The ride was a long one but they had finally made it to their destination. Serah stepped out of the train and took a long stretch before observing her surroundings. There were several tall pine trees placed around the terrain, and an ominous night sky lit with stars that calmed the unsettling feeling that was building in her stomach. Then there was a tall tower. She took a few steps towards the odd building and blinked. There was a set of stone stairs and double wooden doors with a star on the left and a moon on the right. "What a strange place.." She commented then turned to face Donald and Goofy. "So this..Yen Sid lives here?"

"That's Master Yen Sid!" Donald stressed, stomping his foot against the ground. She just ignored Donald's brief tantrum and continued to stare up at the tower in awe.

"Yes Serah," Goofy started. "Master Yen Sid resides here. He's the king's teacher and a very powerful sorcerer."

"Ah-huh, interesting." She responded and pushed opened the tower's double doors.

"Wha what's going on here!?" Donald exclaimed, running into the tower. Goofy followed right behind him but Serah just stayed at the door since it felt safer to do so.

Inside was dark and very gloomy. Serah had not been too fond of the darkness lately so this bought on a shroud of terror for her. She could feel it in the air, trouble was not that far. Apparently she wasn't the only one that felt this imminent fear, her shadow companion did as well, for it quickly transformed into the keyblade. "You guys, I have a bad feeling about this.."

"You think…?" Donald retorted.

"We should get to Master Yen Sid and see if he's all right!" Goofy suggested.

The three of them nodded and ran for the staircase. Many shadow heartless made their selves present as the trio made their way up the tower, and they struck down all that tried to bar their path to the top. But It didn't matter how many they struck they just kept appearing.

"Heartless and more heartless!" Donald yelled, becoming very agitated by the numbers of dark creatures that were appearing.

A winged heartless swooped down from above and tried to get Serah with a quick attack and missed when she swiftly dashed back. The girl didn't know she was capable of moving so fast until now. She made a sliding stop before turning back around and leaning over the side of the railing. She took a glance up and witnessed two more creatures flying from above.

"Serah what are you doing!?" Goofy shouted as he bashed one of the small heartless with his shield.

"So they're the source of these creatures.." She spoke to herself. Serah looked up at goofy and told him and Donald to keep going and that she'd meet them at the top. He listened and continued up the stairs.

Serah's eyes fell back in line with the beast and she smirked and sprinted towards the flying beasts. The distance between them became shorter and shorter. She leaped off her left foot into the air with ease and lounged towards the beast. Everything suddenly felt like it was transpiring in slow motion as she pulled the keyblade back over her shoulder. She was now in close eye contact with the two of them; sapphire blue met with golden yellow. To look into those eyes was almost like the creature staring into her very soul. She nearly lost concentration but nonetheless she kept her focus. The keyblade was bought back over her shoulder just as one of the creatures were about to swing at her. Maneuvering her body to the right, the girl parried the attack with ease and slashed across the center of their bodies. The beasts busted into tiny bits of darkness that faded in the air.

"Two down one more to-D-GAH!"

A dull pain shot up her back as the last winged creatures slapped her with its wing. She was tossed to the right and sent crashing into a nearby wall. I groaned and coughed as pain shot through her extremities. She opened her eyes and a large thick cloud of dust obscured her vision. She coughed again and carefully pulled herself from the dent in the wall.

To move meant great pain or her body. Even the smallest movement had her shrieking. She inhaled then exhaled small and slow breaths. Her injuries were not of importance at the moment. She had to get to Finish of the heartless and catch up to Goofy and Donald.

A roar sounded and the pink-haired girl looked up. The yellow eyed beast was circling over-head and breathing fire from its mouth. "Uh-oh…."

The beast circled once more then swooped from above and towards the pink haired girl. Serah dashed up the stairs as fast as she possibly could but her current condition was slowing her down. She took a gander over her shoulder to witness the beast opening its large mouth. It inhaled a raspy breath of air then closed its mouth. "Uh-oh!"She had a feeling what was coming next and increased in speed.

The beast opened its mouth and blew out a sphere of orange-yellow flames from its mouth. The violent flame ball was only inches away from hitting the girl but missed when it collided with the stone wall, however she did feel the harsh heat from it. She began to think to herself, '_What would Light do in this situation…' _A lot of possible solutions came to mind. All being something outrageous that she wasn't capable of doing because she was not Light..

Her thought process continued but her time for a successful reaction was growing short. The winged creature growled and banked left where it descended down below. Serah came to a stop and peeked over the side of the banister, She seen nothing. The young Farron took in a deep breath and decided to take this time to catch her breath. Her legs were sore and her lungs felt like they were going to collapse. Serah sat down and dropped her head back against the wall. The wicks inside the lanterns that were lining the walls, were somehow lit once again; bringing light to this once darkened place. Things seemed to be fine but it was too quiet for her liking. That threatening feeling that she had in her stomach earlier when she first entered the tower was still present. Something still wasn't right. She swiftly stood to her feet and held her weapon tightly at the hilt, looking around waiting for the slightest bit of strange activity. Still there was nothing.

Maybe it was just her nerves. She lowered the keyblade back to her side and took a small step forward just to make sure everything was okay. When nothing occurred she continued her casual walk up the stairs. Maybe the heartless got scared and scurried off. But with it out of her way, she could finally get to Donald and Goofy and reach Yen Sid. Her stroll up the stairs turned into a full on sprint.

'_Almost to the top, just three more flights of stairs Serah. You can do it..' _ She told herself. She was already tired from her struggle with that stupid heartless and her injuries. Now these stairs made her feel like she was running a marathon. Her foot stepped down on the next flight of stairs and the lights were blown out by yet another gust of wind that blew over her. She peered over the side and looked down below. There was nothing. "Is this some type of joke?"

"Who said it was a joke." A smooth voice responded from the back of her. Serah turned around but no one was there.

"Hey, behind you!"

Serah turned around again but seen no one. "This isn't funny!"

Small devious laughs could be heard echoing in the dark around her. "D-donald, Goofy.." She called, terrified now.

CRASH!

She lost her footing and tumbled backwards. Crashing through the stairs was that winged heartless from earlier. "So you were hiding huh…?"

The creature flew back down through the hole it created in the stairs and crashed through the set of stairs a few inches away from the young girl. The stone steps started to crumble and give way. Pieces were breaking off and falling down below. Serah quickly turned and dashed up the stairs as the heartless continued its destruction.

The run felt endless and she thought she'd never reach the top. The feeling of fatigue was overwhelming her. The second to last story of stairs crumbled beneath her feet and she quickly jumped to grab onto the next story.

She was now hanging ten stories in the air. She could feel the rough jagged edges of the concrete rubbing away skin on her forearm and elbow as she tried to pull herself up on to the edge. Her actions were useless for her hands were sweaty and all the dust that cumulated on the floor was causing her to slip. "Donald Goofy, Help!" She yelled but there was no answer, only a loud echo of her voice bouncing from the tower walls.

She looked down to see the heartless flying beneath her feet waiting for her to fall. A dark portal opened up making her fear of falling increase. She wanted to just fall, there was no other way out of this predicament. But falling meant landing in that pool of darkness, and she was trying to avoid that. The Farron girl took a deep breath to calm herself. Panicking wasn't going to help her out of this situation.

Using what little upper body strength she had, she struggled to push herself up on the ledge. She was almost there, just a few inches more and she would have been safe. but that heartless didn't want to see her succeed. The creature flew underneath her and knocked Serah off balance. Her body wobbled and her arms slipped out from under her. "N-no!" She tried to reach for the ledge to pull herself up. It was too late and she started to fall. But suddenly stopped. She wasn't falling.

Serah slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Her body was floating in midair but how? Down below the heartless still sat waiting next to that portal, waiting for her to fall. There was a tug on her arm and she was pulled back on the ledge to safety.

"Should be more careful, fall into one of those and you'll be finished."

Serah looked over her shoulder but there was no one there. She was starting to think she was going crazy. Or her condition was causing her to hear things out of the ordinary.

"Behind you Light.."

The girl turned around again and a tall figure stood in front of her. A long dark coat covered his body from head to toe. Just like those other two from the organization. "So, you're behind this!" She said pointing the keyblade at the figure. "And I'm not Light!"

"Now now, Light don't go jumping to conclusions!" He said, ignoring her last statement. He raised his hands and pulled back the black hood to reveal his face to her. The male had long spiked orange hair and turquoise eyes.. He also wore a very sketchy smile. "There, see it's me, Axel do I look like the bad guy to you?" He said still keeping that smile in place.

"More than you think. I don't know any Axel. What do you want here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He extended his arm out in front of him and from flames that gathered around his hand, a keyblade materialized. "I'm here for that keyblade, and to bring you back to the organization." He lounged at Serah and she quickly held her weapon up in front of her for defense. "What are you talking about?"

Her question went without answer as the male's weapon struck down against her own continuously. Corss slash and diagonal slash following behind one another to break the girl's defense. Another fight, she wasn't expecting this. Serah pushed forward on the weapon then performed a quick back flip. Just as she was about to attack, the male vanished. All Serah could hear was his cackle resonating in the darkness.

"How will you save yourself this time Light?"

"Will you do again what you did in the past and betray the organization?"

A barrage of flames came from her right and Serah quickly rolled to the side, parrying the attack. She stood still and cautiously looked around; trying to find her attacker but it was way too dark to see anything.

"Or will you help us in our plan!" Axel quickly moved to the girl's side and struck the girl with ease. Serah tumbled down a few stairs but recovered as quickly as she could when she seen the male conjuring up another fire attack. Serah casted a reflect spell that sent Axel's attack back at him.

The fire attack clashed with the male's body and he fell over the edge. Serah took in slow deep breaths and sat down against the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut and crossed her arms over her ribs. It felt like a few of them had broken. All of this over a key? Before she really couldn't take the mouse seriously but he seemed to be right. There was something about this weapon that had everyone wanting it.

Serah stood up and held on to the wall as she made her way up the stairs. She was almost there after all then this nightmare would be over. Well at least this part. Just then, Axel emerged from the darkness laughing manically. Did this guy ever die, or disappear? "Come on, what was that Light? It'll take more than that to keep me down!"

"Stop calling me that, I'm not Light!" Serah shouted, continuing up the stairs. She watched the male as he did the same with her. It was almost impossible to attack him since close combat didn't seem to be an option for him. Then he was hovering in the air. If she even attempted to jump out there she'd fall directly into that black ooze!

"Just give up, I'm not trying to kill you. You're needed alive after all. So why not make this easy on yourself and give in. You look like you're ready too anyway.."

Yea right, that wasn't about to happen. If she gave up now then she'd never find Sora or Light. "N-no way.." She said through small breaths. It was becoming harder and harder to breath every second. From running to the pain shooting through the left side of her body it was only a matter of time before she'd actually black out. "I-I have people I have to see and that are-that are counting on me. N-not giving up…at least not yet!" Serah spun the weapon then pointed it out at the levitating man. At the base of the key a luminous blue sphere was forming. The sphere grew to the size of a beach ball before Serah released. The sphere ripped across the air towards Axel and exploded into thick shards.

Axel only laughed finding her attempts to attack him useless. He stretched out both his arms at his sides and a wall of fire rose up, protecting him. This didn't stop Serah she continued throwing off the same spell until it eventually took down Axel's great wall of fire, leaving the last blizzard spell to connect.

Axel grunted and cried out as the shards of ice pierced through major parts of his body. He keeled over coughing quiet violently but he was still too far out of range for Serah to finish him off. One last spell would do the trick but she was too weak to cast anything else.

She looked down over the edge at the creature at the bottom then across the way at the man just hovering in the air. She stepped back and leaned against the wall. There was no way she's gain enough air to make it over to the male in time to strike him down. Even if she did, she'd still fall afterwards. She looked over the edge one more time then stepped back. "Well.." She gulped quietly. "Here I go." She ran towards the wall then pushed herself off with all her strength and jumped out towards the orange haired male. Within a few feet, Serah pulled the key over her head and quickly bought it back down, Finally this was over. She can now finally find Donald and Goofy so they can get to Yen Sid and get the heck out of here!

Serah felt her weapon clash down against something but it wasn't what she hoped for it to be. She looked down to see that Axel had blocked her attack with his own keyblade. "Wha-what!"

"Got you!" She smirked then grabbed Serah's leg and tossed her like a ragdoll into the wall. The keyblade fell from her hands as she tumbled down the stairs and slipped over the edge. She quickly grabbed onto the ledge just in time, returning her to the position she was in just moments ago.

"Hmph…" Axel slowly walked down the stairs and stopped in front of the pink haired girl. "You've made this all too easy…"

Serah reached out to grab the keyblade but the man stepped on her hand and picked up the weapon in his own hands. This was bad. Mickey told her that she had to do everything in her power to keep that from falling into the wrong hands and here she was, sitting here and allowing it to be taken from her. "You better give that back or I'll..I'll"

"You'll what? I'm up here and you're hanging there." He said with a laugh and stepped harder on the girl's hand. He looked down at the dark beast that was waiting below. "It's been fun, but I'm not going to waste my time with you any further. I've got what I came for so now it's time for you to go. But don't worry," Axel reached out and grabbed Serah by her collar. "We'll be meeting up again very soon. Until then…good-bye Light." Axel let the girl and waved as she started falling.

"NOOO!" She cried out as she reached one arm out towards the ledge that was becoming further away from her as she fell. A portal opened up and she watched the male walk into it and vanish out of site. She sighed, closing her eyes and laying her head back as her body came in contact with the dark portal.

:::

A bright white light shined down in her eyes. Was she dead? Heh, death has been a common thing on her mind lately. How could it not. With all the trouble she's run into recently. The white light cleared up and her eyes fell upon a tan ceiling with a glowing crescent moon symbol at the center. Where was she?

She sat up and held her hand against her head. Serah felt groggy for some reason and just wanted to go back to sleep. Seconds later all the pain she had felt earlier had returned. Yea, she was definitely alive. When her vision fully cleared she glanced around at her surroundings. It was a small room with book shelves lining the left and right walls. And at the center wall were windows in the shape of stars and crescent moons. Then there was a desk. On it was her keyblade, hovering at the center protected by some magical blue barrier.

"Hey you!" Serah turned around only to be greeted by her enemy Axel.

"You!" Serah dashed at the male but fell from being so fatigued and wounded.

"Woah woah woah…" Axel knelt down at her side and pulled an elixir from the pocket of his coat. "take it easy. Here take this.."

Serah slapped the elixir from his hand and the contents spilled all over the floor. "You just tried to kill me now you're trying to heal me!?"

"Well there's something behind that if you let me explain-"

"Serah!"

She heard Donald and Goofy yell in unison. She looked behind to see the two standing at the door, staring at her with relief on their faces. She was angrier with them than happy. She stood to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. "I called for you two earlier and you didn't answer. I nearly died!"

The two looked at one another then back at Serah. "We called to you as well Serah. The heartless had increased in numbers by the time we reached the top so we started to worry when we lost sight of you." Goofy explained. "Then all of a sudden we saw a flash of light and we were here."

"Strange I was swallowed by darkness and ended up here after battling with that guy!" She pointed to Axel and Donald and Goofy looked in his direction.

"Lea!?" the two said in unison.

"Lea?" Serah said in a confused manner. "No, he said his name was Axel!"

"Yea, that was my name when I was a nobody. But I'm not anymore, I'm an apprentice under Master Yen Sid." He explained.

"Then what was all that mess you were talking earlier huh!? How did we all suddenly end up here!? Is this some game you're playing, what was that little experience about anyway!? Serah shouted then crossed her arms.

"Well," Lea started.

"It was but a mere illusion." They heard someone say. All of their eyes including Lea's, fell to the right where a door opened to reveal an elderly man in light blue robes. Serah blinked twice as the man took a seat at the desk in front of them. He had a long grey beard and appeared to be over the age of eighty. She would have asked but that scowl he wore was frightening enough for her to keep her comments to herself and her mouth shut.

"Master Yen Sid." Goofy, Donald and Lea, saluted the old man while Serah just stood there confused.

"Huh, oh..hiya?" She said and gave a weak smile.

"Show some respect Serah!" Donald scolded.

"So you're the one, Serah. I've heard quite a bit about you from Mickey. I am surprised to hear that Sealed Will has finally chosen a master but I have to say, I expected better." He spoke. "What you experienced when you were climbing the tower to reach me was an illusion created by myself to test your strength and will and you failed."

Great how was she supposed to know that it was a test? It all felt pretty real to her. From being thrown all over the place and banged up by this spikey haired guy, one would think that was a real experience.

"You not only don't look like one but you certainly don't have the qualifications it takes to be a keyblade wielder." He said continuing to pick at the girl for her lack of abilities.

She tilted her head and arched her eyebrow. "A keyblade comes with qualifications?"

He nodded. "Yes, and you lack them all. You're weak-hearted, very unlike your sister."

She sighed. Light seemed to be very popular around these areas. If everyone adored her so damn much then why not let her have the stupid responsibility of wielding this thing. Oh right…she can't.

The man stood from his seat and trailed over towards the window. He was quiet for a few seconds like he was studying something in the sky. "There is a great danger upon us, one much greater than before. And the future of us all depends on the chosen wielder of that keyblade." His glare snapped back in Serah's direction, sending chills across the girl's whole body. "And knowing that it's a mere school girl like you is preposterous!"

"The power that weapon holds is immense, and dangerous. If your heart falters even a little bit, the darkness within it will consume you!"

Serah held her hand out in front of her and the keyblade appeared within her grasp. "But not once has my heart faltered and I won't let it!" She said confidently.

Yen Sid waved his arm through the air and a wave of sparkling crescent moons and stars fell from his cape. The room around us dimmed to dark, and then there was a bright flash. Serah shielded her eyes until she thought the light had vanished and slowly lowered her arm from over her eyes.

"Where are we Master?" Donald asked looking around the unfamiliar setting.

"This..it can't be.." Serah looked around. The calming evening breeze, the familiar scent of salt blowing through the air, and the clashing waves against the beach shore. This could have been anywhere but the one thing that gave it away was the large crystal structure of in the distance. "Bodum…?" She was home. But how?"

"Yes it appears to be that but no, this is a projection of an event that has already occurred." He explained. "Nothing here can harm you and you can harm or change nothing."

"But, what does this event have to do with me?"

"You shall see shortly." The man pointed over Serah's shoulder and she was hesitant to look. She really didn't want to see whatever it was Yen Sid was trying to prove or show her but she looked anyway because she knew they wouldn't be leaving until she did. her eyes glanced up to see two figures falling off a high cliff. At first glance, she couldn't really make out who the two figures were so she moved closer. When she was in range, it was too late because the figures had already hit the water. She shrugged and turned around and started making her way back to Yen Sid. That is until he motioned for her to stop.

She turned around to see a figure flying back and clash down on to the sand. The figure stood up and she quickly recognized her as Acrliex. The sight of her instantly made her angry and if she could she would have attacked her. The Organization member charged in her direction and dashed Serah out of the way. She watched as she battled against some other person she did not recognize. The girl stepped closer as Acrliex's form was tossed back again by another attack from the unknown individual.

The closer she came the slower Serah's steps became. She didn't know why but she was suddenly afraid to find out. The figure began taking steps in her direction so Serah stopped. The individual was starting to look very familiar. She vanished and appeared on a cliff behind her.

Yen Sid waved his arm and Serah appeared right behind the unknown girl she still couldn't see.

"Disgusting…who needs something so weak when you have something greater on your side; the darkness."

Serah heard her say. She walked to the girl's side and took a glance down at the object she held within her hand. A heart. But..

"N-no way.." Serah swallowed hard and leaned at a certain angle to get a view of the girl's face. "No.." She stepped away slowly and looked off into the distance where Yen Sid stood. "This..this is me…" But how did this happen. What caused this.

The visual started to fade and everything went back to black. Shortly after the darkness cleared and they were back in the loft. Serah fell to her knees and kept her eyes to the floor.

"Serah, what's the matter?" Goofy asked obviously concerned about her.

"What happened to me..? How come I can't remember that happening..?"

"That is what happens when you are consumed by the darkness, your mind and body is no longer yours and acts on its own free will." He went on to explain. "You were lucky to escape the first time but next time you may not be so lucky. The more you slip into the darkness the harder it is to pull yourself from it."

The thought of her losing herself to the darkness scared her stiff. She wasn't sure if she could go on after seeing that. What if her heart faltered again? This world and others like it could end up in danger. And it would be her fault. "You're right." She admitted and stood to her feet. "I am weak-hearted. I shouldn't have the right to hold this keyblade." The weapon appeared in her hand and she laid it down on the desk in front of Yen Sid. To save the worlds from despair at her own hand, it was best if the key blade was passed on to someone else. She turned around and headed for the door when the weapon reappeared in her hands again.

Yen Sid sighed. "As unfit as you are, The keyblade seems to think otherwise and I can't change that. It must see something in you that I cannot." He stated. "You need to learn to balance out the darkness and the light within your own heart." He explained to the girl. "Only you are capable of doing that."

Serah nodded then looked down at the keyblade. Everything the man was saying made sense to her but she didn't feel like she was capable of doing it at all. She didn't trust herself. After witnessing that little episode with Acrliex she wasn't sure what she was capable of. "I'll do my best..?" She said, earning a nod from the elderly man.

"That is all I ask."

"But, what about my sister and Sora, can you tell me anything about them?" She asked. Everyone was talking about how they know of both of them, yet no one has given her any information on where they were.

Yen Sid sighed and shook his head lightly. "I am sorry to say but, I know nothing of Light or Sora's current location. All I am aware of is that she is fighting a tough battle. Still, everything you do on this journey is connected. Whether you find them or you don't."

Serah frowned and looked down at the floor.

"But, take with you this piece of knowledge; You're the key that connects everything Serah." Yen Sid said.

The girl's eyes grew with surprise and she looked at both Donald and Goofy. "Me, a key?" She held her arm out containing the weapon and began to think, knowing now that the fate of all worlds was on her shoulders.

"Chosen wielder of the keyblade, you are the key that will seal the doors to darkness, and open the doors to the light."

"Eight worlds from the light world now lie in the deepest depts of the darkness. Three that are currently in the light world are slowly being pulled towards the darkness. It is your job to seal the keyholes in theses worlds and restore them to the light. Every keyhole sealed opens a new pathway to a new world."

"Every keyhole opens a path to a new world.." So he was right. Everything was connected. "Understood."

"Good." Yen Sid waved his arm through the air like he did earlier and a hologram of Donald appeared. "Now for the enemies you will encounter.."

The visual of Donald twisted and changed and took on the form of a heartless. "If one such as you Donald was to yield to the darkness in your heart, you will become a heartless." He explained. "But of course you all already know this."

All three of them nodded their heads and Yen Sid moved on. "Now then," He waved his hand again and another heartless appeared alongside the small shadow heartless only this one wore an all-white suit and it's body swayed from side to side. "Rarely, if someone with a strong heart, be they good or evil–were to become a heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own. Like I explained to you earlier Serah." The man rested his elbows on the desk and folded his hands under his chin. "These beings are then called nobodies. An empty vessel that has had its heart stolen away…"

"Even as its body slowly starts to fade from existence–for you see, nobodies do not truly exist at all. They may appear to have feelings but this is all but a ruse–they only pretend to have hearts. You must not allow them to deceive you."

"Nobodies…" Serah scratched the back of her head, somewhat confused. "They..don't exist?" If something didn't exist how were they wondering around? Serah, Donald and Goofy all turned their heads over their shoulders when a set of the nobodies dressed in all-white appeared at their side. "These are only the common types of nobodies that you will run into, but there are others–larger ones, and some much more frightening and capable of using very unique powers."

"Dusks are the least of your worries. Be wary they will do you much harm if you're not careful. Still, they are nothing but empty shells fated to return to the darkness."

"But–" Yen Sid waved his hand again and the Dusks vanished and a new image was present. Three hooded figures dressed in long black coats now stood before them. Donald and Goofy both took a few steps back while the site of the hooded figures only angered Serah.

"The beings before you now are different." He explained and turned to face Lea, who stepped forward to explain who they were.

"These powerful beings are a group called Organization XI, formally Organization XIII before the leader, Xemnas and the other members of the original group were all destroyed. They are the ones sending out the heartless and the lesser nobodies."

"Organization XI.." Serah whispered.

"While heartless act on instinct, nobodies function in a much higher manner. They can both think and plan. And they also seem to be working towards some type of goal. What it is, no one knows yet." He finished then stepped back and allowed Yen Sid to take over again.

"Light sensed this danger and jumped in right away to fight it. Explaining her sudden disappearance Now she's out there somewhere fighting against the heartless looking for the answers to stop the nobodies as well as Organization XI." The hologram of the three organization members disappeared from sight. Donald, Goofy and Serah talked amongst one another for a brief few seconds as they discussed and planned what they were going to do.

"Well, while Light is fighting her battle somewhere else, then were going to fight the battle here." Serah said, Donald and Goofy both agreeing with the girl. "If we do that then it's bound for us all to cross paths. And when we all meet, we'll end this battle together!" Serah further explained. She suddenly had a different view of this whole situation she was involved in. After gaining knowledge from Yen Sid, she had no more doubts about anything. "Donald, Goofy, you ready?"

The two characters looked at Serah and nodded. "Ready when you are Serah"

"Hey." Lea called to the girl.

Serah turned around to another elixir being thrown to her by the male. She reached up and caught it in her hand.

"It's going to be a perilous journey for the three of you. Not only do you need to be prepared but you have to be in top shape as well." He said. And no it's not poison. Like I've stated before I'm not the bad guy here.." He said then smiled.

Serah looked at the contents in the bottle then looked back at the male. He was right after all. She couldn't just walk out of here all hurt up. That would be the most careless thing she could ever do. She pulled the cork from the bottle and chugged down the contents. It wasn't the best tasting stuff but, her wounds were healing and she was starting to feel better already. "Thanks…"

"Heh, no problem…Light."

"I'm not-!"

"I know I know! Only kidding, relax." He laughed." Good luck, Serah. See ya around."

:::

Ten members stood at the center of the floor in an all-white room watching through a dark puddle of ooze on the ground as Serah, Donald, and Goofy embarked on their journey to save the world. A gloved hand waved over the puddle and it vanished. One of the hooded men, the leader no doubt stepped out from the group and began pacing the length of the floor. Not in a nervous manner but a rather calm pace.

All the members looked towards their leader, waiting for some kind of response from him about what they had just witnessed. But he just remained quiet.

"What are we going to do about this?" One of them finally spoke out. "With them out there trying to stop us, puts a wrench in our plans!"

"Relax Xolen." Their leader spoke out. "Everything will be fine. That girl cannot control the power that keyblade holds. She is too weak. It is only a matter of time before she plunges her own self into the darkness."

"So we're going to stand around and just wait until that happens? That could take forever!"

"If you quiet down and give me a chance to speak I'll tell you.."


	3. This is Halloween?

_**Chapter 3: This is Halloween...?**_

"Woah..what is this thing!?" Serah exclaimed as she walked around, examining the large ship. Sure they had bigger ships back when she used to live on Cocoon but this one was pretty cool looking. Yeah it looked like it was built with childish building blocks but she's never seen anything like this before.

"It's a a Gummi Ship Serah." Goofy explained. "In this we can travel to any world we wish to." The door opened and the pink haired girl scurried inside before the other two. Serah was even more impressed. It was much bigger on the inside.

"Wow…" She said, looking around amazed. Her eyes then fell upon the dash board covered in a variety of buttons switches and levers. "Cool!" She felt like a little kid in a candy shop with all these buttons, wondering what all of them did. She sat down in the pilot's seat completely awestruck.

"Wonder what this does.." She reached to touch a blinking purple button but her hand was slapped by something hard and she instantly pulled it away.

"Don't touch that!" A squeaky voice shouted at the girl but she didn't know where it came from.

"Huh, who said that!?"

"Down here!" the voice shouted.

Serah's eyes fell upon the dash board again but this time she saw two tiny little chipmunks. One with a big red nose who looked pretty dorky, and another with a black nose.

"Chipmunks…?" She blinked, still rubbing her hand whatever she was hit with really hurt.

"Chip and Dale you can call us." The black nosed chipmunk stated. "I'm Chip and he's Dale we are the operators of this ship." He explained.

"Ah, well nice to meet you Chip and Dale. I'm Serah." She scratched the back of her head and smiled weakly. "I apologize for touching things. This is all just so new to me." She giggled nervously. She couldn't believe that she was apologize to animals. That was weird. But she's become accustomed to weird recently, after all look who her two companions were.

Donald and Goofy both finally entered the ship, the door sliding shut behind them. "Serah where are you?"

The girl's hand rose up from the pilot's chair then she peeked over to see her two companions walking towards her. "Can I drive!?" She asked, overly excited to actually see how the ship would fly.

"No way!" Donald said, waving his arms through the air, crushing the girl's dreams very quickly. "You have no idea how to navigate this ship. Come on get up get up!"

Serah stubbornly crossed her arms and glared at the duck. "You can show me! I'm a quick learner, you'd be impressed." Her expression softened and she winked at the irritated duck then flashed a smile. "Pleeeeeease Donald!"

"No, no, no. Now get up we have things to do." Donald quacked angrily!

"Alright alright! No need to get your feathers in a bundle Mr. Duck!" Serah stood from the pilot's seat and sat in the seat behind it while Goofy sat in the seat next to Donald. "Can you teach me when we aren't busy?" She pushed but still received a 'no' from the irritated duck. Serah just sighed and turned her head to look out the window.

Donald pushed a combination of buttons on the dash board then the large green button at the center. The ship wobbled a bit as it rose from the ground and into the air. When it was at an acceptable height, Donald pushed a lever forward.

Two and a half hours later the ship was still sailing through space. Goofy was laid back in the chair snoring away in dream land. Donald had put the ship on auto pilot and was also laid back but was not sleeping.

Serah sat in the corner tickling at her little heartless sides. No noise emitted from the creature but by the way it was rolling about kicking its feet was enough to tell Serah that the creature was actually ticklish.

"You're so cute!" She squealed as the creature leaped up into her arms and nuzzled its head against her neck. Compared to the other heartless they went against hers was a gentle one. She often wondered why it was that it never attacked or hurt her or the others, but really could care less about that aspect.

"Hey Donald?" Serah called boredly to the duck. It was a becoming very tedious sitting around this ship doing nothing. She'd been pacing the floors for the last hour.

"What is it?" Donald answered.

Serah's arm extended to the ladder in the corner next to the door. She's been wondering where it would lead to. "That ladder, where does it lead to, I'm curious.."

"To the upper level of the ship, the living space." He stated plainly.

"Living Space!?" she crooned! "Wow!" She made a mental note to herself to check it out later.

The ship slowed to a stop and hovered in place over their destination. Serah ran to the window and took a peek outside. The world seemed like it was a dark and gloomy place. The violet purple smog lingering over it made it even creepier. She blinked twice then called Donald over to her side. "What is this place?"

"Halloween Town." Donald responded and peered outside the window beside Serah. "In this town it's always Halloween."

"Always Halloween?" She smiled with much excitement. "Halloween is my favorite time of year! Let's go!" She said throwing her arms up into the air.

"Calm down, calm down. We'll have to blend in first." Donald said taking out his staff. "Nothing my magic can't handle.

"Why do we have to blend in?" Serah asked tilting her head to the side.

"You'll see, GOOFY!"

"AGGH!" The dog was startled awake and ended up falling on the floor from the surprise wakeup call from Donald. "Wh-what is it?" He asked standing up and rubbing the top of his head.

"We're here come over here so we can get prepared."

:::

A chilling breeze passed over their bodies that made Serah shiver slightly. Dead leaves caught up in a small whirlwind before falling back and laying still on the ground. The hazy moon was full and sat at the center of the sky. Moans and groans from unknown creatures echoed from the dark debts of the eerie woods, giving off that ominous and suspenseful feeling.

"Wow!" Serah looked down at herself to see that her entire appearance was different. Her clothes were faded in color and tattered at the edges. Her hair was disheveled and her bangs hung flat, covering some of her face. Dark circles were present under eyes that had only the sclera present. Her skin was also very pale and see-through like she was a ghost.

Donald appeared to be a strange looking mummy that had its entire mid-section removed. And Goofy looked like a kinder less scary version of Frankenstein.

"This place is pretty cool!" Serah exclaimed. "You know, we could always just kick back here and-"

"No!" Donald shouted as he and Goofy began walking towards town. "We came here for one thing and one thing only. And that is to find and seal the keyhole."

"You didn't even hear what I had to say..." Serah said and ran to her companion's side.

"I don't need to I already know what you were getting at."

"Ugh.." Serah grumbled and tucked her arms behind her head. "Party pooper, Is it bad to have a little fun?"

"Fun will come after all the worlds are restored back to their normal state. And when the heartless and nobodies are gone!" Donald shouted at the girl, but to Serah it just sounded like quack, quack quack.

"Alright alright don't get your wrappings in a knot.." Both her and Goofy snickered even though her joke was very corny. "haha, get it since you're a mummy, don't get your.." She stopped when Donald didn't seem too enthused by her joke in the least. "Ugh you have no sense of humor. Goofy thought it was quite funny." She looked back at the dog who was still giggling to himself.

"Whatever.." Donald grumbled at the laughing pair.

Passing by six rows of gravestones, the trio witnessed bony hands reaching out from the dirt and pulling themselves out from under the ground. Twelve skeletons made themselves visible and started dancing in a circle around the trio, humming a very strange tune.

Serah shrieked and hid behind Goofy, shaking in fear. Donald doubled over in laughter and began rolling around on the ground in tears. The skeletons stopped their circle dance and formed a straight line before dancing off into the woods eerily chanting the words _Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!_

When the bony creatures were gone, Serah stepped from behind Goofy and placed a trembling hand over her racing heart. It felt like it was about to burst from her chest. "W-well, that was certainly..uhm I wasn't scared."

Donald continued to roll around the ground laughing and holding his invisible stomach. "But Halloween was your favorite time of the year."

"Now you suddenly have a sense of humor!" Serah glared and kicked Donald in the butt, causing him to tumble and hit his head on a tree. "It is! But I didn't expect this but now that I know..I-I'm prepared!" she stammered

Donald held his head as a ring of stars circled it. "Still sound pretty scared to me. He said and shook his head, making the stars disappear. "Anyway, let's get going so we can find that keyhole and get out of here." The duck mumbled still rubbing the top of his head.

The sound of music boomed from the woods causing the trio to come to an abrupt pause in walking. Serah zipped towards the woods and stopped at the entrance. "You hear that!? It sounds like music!" She said happily

"Sounds like Jack is giving his Hallow's Eve Festival!" Goofy commented.

"Uhm…Jack? Hallow's Eve Festival?" Serah questioned with an index finger to her bottom lip.

"The annual festival Jack throws every evening before Halloween." Goofy explained. "All the ghouls gather together at the center of town where they sing dance and have fun!"

"Sounds like fun! Let's go!" Serah dashed off through the woods without a clue of where she was going but she figured following the sound of the music would get her to her destination. "This way!" She called back to her companions.

"Serah slow down!" Donald shouted.

Serah came to a sliding stop when several dark portals appeared around her. Out fell the creatures she wasn't so happy to see; the heartless. "Oh-ho ho you guys!? And look at you, all dressed up for the occasion?" She said to the mummy wrapped heartless. "Well you guys won't be making it because your existence ends here.." The keyblade appeared within her hand and she began her fight with the creatures. Donald and Goofy joined in when they finally caught up.

"Over there behind you!" Serah shouted to Donald. The duck quickly reacted and turned around with a quickness. Three of the heartless circled Donald and began scratching and attaching him with their claws.

"Thunder!" The duck shouted. At that a bolt of lightning whizzed down from the clouds and struck the heartless. He beat off the last two by beating them with his staff.

Goofy ran at the creatures with a powerful charge. Each one of the heartless flew back and became dazed and confused. Goofy stood on his tip-toes with his arms out and shield in his left hand. The dog pivoted to the left on his right foot, then quickly spun back to the left at a very fast speed, as fast as a tornado. The spinning Goofy suddenly started to move and in the direction of the heartless. They attempted to flee but the winds coming from the spinning goofy were too strong and sucked them in. When they were all gone, Goofy came to a stop.

When the way was clear, the trio gathered together. The music that was booming in the background came to a cease and all that could be heard was the sound of cheering. Serah was a little disappointed that they missed the celebration but was more worried about the heartless showing up here. "I'm sure that wasn't the last of them, we have to get to town quick come on!"

"I'm leading the way this time!" Donald suggested but his words were not heard by the girl since she was already far ahead of him.

Serah, Donald, and Goofy reached the town and quickly came to a stop. There was a celebration taking place but very few people attended and some heartless were in te mix of those few people. "Hey get away from those things they are dangerous!" Serah shouted, rushing in to attack the heartless but was stopped when a bony hand rested on her shoulder.

Serah felt her body turn extremely cold and it wasn't from the chilly breeze that was blowing across her skin. She slowly turned her head up to make eye contact with a six foot-five skeleton wearing a black pinstriped suit. The skeleton gave a friendly smile and spoke his name. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Jack Skellington, so nice of you to join the town festival!" He said in a cheery tone.

Serah stood in fear looking up at the skeleton. The fact that he was moving, talking and making greetings was already freaking her out. "Y-y-y-you're….."

"Nice to see you again Jack!" Goofy said walking to the skeleton's side.

"Ah! Donald Goofy what a pleasant surprise, nice to see that you two could make the celebration! Tomorrow is Halloween is that why you two are here!?" The delighted skeleton said looking back and forth at the two.

Donald and Goofy took a look around for a second time. The town looked too empty for a Halloween celebration and everyone appeared to be pretty down and upset about something.

"uh…uh..t-t-talking…t-talking.." Serah continued to utter as Donald and Goofy continued to speak to Jack about certain issues.

"Well no, were actually here for other matters. And those matters involve the added creatures in your celebration. We wish we were here for your celebration Jack but judging by the looks on everyone's faces and the lack of people, it doesn't look like it's going to be a very happy Halloween around here. "Goofy stated.

"Yes…" Jack frowned and hung his head. He was doing his best to have the greatest Halloween but with their population count decreasing, the great holiday just might be cancelled. "I know."

"A-a-a-a live skeleton…a talking skeleton!" Shouted out loud, drawing the attention of Jack and her two companions as well as some of the towns citizens.

"Forgive her. This is Serah, a new friend of ours." Donald said while shaking his head lightly. "This is her first time here, she's not used to all the live spooky stuff."

Jack laughed lightly. "Oh no, no, no, no. It's understandable. That's the type of reaction we like from new comers! It lets us know that our town is indeed very scary!" He said walking to the girl's side. He laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. Serah froze again. "But no worries Serah, the more time you spend here you'll become more accustomed to the surroundings." He reassured.

Serah only nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay.." She squeaked out.

Donald laughed to himself, it was amusing to him to see Serah so terrified over nothing. "Still your favorite time of the year?"

"Quiet duck!" She growled.

When all the bickering and clearing up was done, Jack led the group to the front of Dr. Finklestein's lab. All three of them sat down on the steps and the Skeleton began to explain. "Those out there are not real heartless. They are just mimicked copies of them made by the Dr. See a heartless wondered into to a few days ago and we caught it. I know heartless are bad news but they just fit in with this town so well you see." He said in an excited manner. "I want to make this coming Halloween the scariest! That's always my goal to make the coming Halloween scarier than the one before. And with these creatures I can accomplish that you see."

"Well I hate to tell you Mr. Skellington but that one heartless you captured wasn't the only one around here. Before we reached town we ran into quite a few." Serah explained. "So can you tell us, have you seen any suspicious around here?"

"Well of course, there's always suspicious activity around here. That's nothing new."

"Well how about out of the ordinary. Something not Halloween town-ish." Serah asked being much more specific this time. "From the looks of the population count, I suspect something's up."

"Hmmm." Jack hummed as he rubbed a bony finger against his chin. "Now that I think about it yes! Some people have disappeared."

"…..Some?" Donald commented. "This town is practically empty"

Jack nodded. "I know it all started a few days ago. First Sally then my pet Zero, and even the town menaces Lock, Shock and Barrel have all gone missing."

"Think Oogie Boogie has returned again?" Goofy asked, remembering the last time the burlap sack monster was revived by Maleficent."

"No, it's not Oogie this time. Everyone became worried and decided to do a search for them but then they all vanished. There have also been some odd creatures besides the heartless running around these parts. They were dressed in white."

"The nobodies.." Serah spoke out "No worries Mr. Skellington, we'll find the missing people and your friends for you."

"We will!?" Donald asked

"Yes we will!" Serah repeated. "Remember what Yen Sid explained to us? Eight worlds lie in the deepest depts of the darkness. Well I strongly believe this is one of those worlds, just look at it. The nobodies are here so that means the organization can't be that far off. We stop them and we find the missing people, and the keyhole!"

Goofy nodded in agreement. Serah did have a very valid point. It took Donald a minute or so to agree but he eventually went along with it. "Fine, fine.."

"Alright Mr. Skellington, lead the way. Where did all these disappearances occur?"

"Please Serah, call me Jack." He said with a small laugh. "They happen in the southeast part of the woods come on let's go."

:::

The Skeleton led the group to the forest area and upon arrival they could not believe what they saw. The whole portion of the woods was fogged over in a dark purple fog. Touching it looked like it would do something fatal.

"I don't know about this place Serah, it looks very unsafe.." Goofy said, feeling his fur stand up at the sight of the forest.

"Y-yea I'm agreeing with Goofy on that. Maybe we should find another route." Donald stammered, shuttering violently.

"If I wasnt in my right state of mind I would think that you was scared Donald." Serah teased at the duck.

"Am not!"

Prove it! Let's go." Serah turned back towards the forest entrence. They were right it was a little scary and she had to admit, she wasnt feeling that brave herself but they had to do what they had to do. "Unsafe is a good sign for us." Serah stated. "Means we are getting close to our mark. Let's go!" Serah dashed off into the woods before her companions could protest any further. Goofy and Donald sighed before finally deciding to follow along while Jack did so willingly without a fuss.

Judging by the lack of heartless and the small amount of darkness in this world this was one of the worlds that was slowly drifting into the darkness. They had to move quickly.

The group came to a wide open dirt plain with a tall wricety tower at the center. But they were not alone. Surrounding the tower was a whole army of heartless.

"Look!" Donald said extending his arm up at the way top of the tower. A figure in a black hood stood staring down at them.

"The organization!"

The figure stepped back and disappeared.

"He got away! come on we have to go after him!"

"Wait Serah, the heartless!" Donald shouted, charging up his magic to attack the crowed of dark creatures but Serah's heartless companion attached to his face, hindering from doing so.

"Get off get off you nuisance get off!"

"Donald, wait...they're not attacking..they're not attacking!" Serah said, walking over and pulling her heartless from the ducks face.

"So what!" He said angrily and shook his staff at Serah's heartless companion. The creature crawled down Serah's leg and hid behind her.

"No Donald, look at them. They look so sad.."

"Ah...?" Donald, Goofy, and Jack all observed the heartless. Their bright yellow eyes held sorrow and sadness. "What is this!? Heartless don't have emotions, nor do feel. Their name describes their nature; heartless!" Donald retorted.

_'The town's people!'_

Serah heard small voice say. "The town's people." She repeated.

"Impossible! And you came to that conclusion how?" Donald argued.

_'Why do you think they aren't attacking idiot!'_

"They're not attacking Donald, that's proof enough!"

"No it's not!"

"Just trust me Donald!" She stressed. But what was this voice she was hearing?

"Alright alright, but one attack from them and they're history."

"Fine." Serah sighed and carefully started to look around. Who was speaking to her just now if it wasn't any of her companions. Who was it? She could be just losing it or maybe she was just, tired. Tired had to be it. She kept in mind to get a good rest when they get back on the ship.

"What is this place...?" She asked as she walked around through the smog. It was much thicker here than in the woods.

"I'm not sure.." Jack said with a hand on his hip." Haven't been over to this area since Oogie Boogie's defeat."

"Hehehe!"

"Shh..."

"You're gonna get us noticed Lock, be quiet!"

"Ow! Don't kick me!"

"Huh...?" Serah heard the quiet bickering and started following it despite the smog obscuring everything.

"Serah what's wrong?" Jack asked."

She put a finger to her lips gesturing for her friends to stay quiet.

Jack, Donald, and Goofy all looked at one another in bewilderment at what Serah was up to and could only shrug.

"Barrel stop moving around!"

Serah came to a bush and pulled back the branches to find three children hiding inside. One dressed like a witch, another dressed like a skeleton, and the last one dressed like a devil.

"R-ruuuuun!" The three dashed from the bushes and scattered in different directions. They were fast. Serah didn't even get to move.

"Jack, Donald, Goofy get them!"

The three chased after the children until they were out of breath. Next Donald and Jack depended on their magic but the children out ran that as well. They eventually ran into the wrikety tower and slammed the door behind them.

"Hey!" Serah ran over to the door and turned the knob but it was locked.

The children giggled, pointed and made goofy faces at the pinkette then ran up the stairs.

"Who were those kids!?"

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel. The town menaces." Jack said matter of factly. "And all this time I thought they were gone like the other towns people. What are they up to?"

"We're going to find out, let's go!" Donald stated.

"How? Those kids locked the door!"

"Use your keyblade."

Serah looked down at the weapon in her hand. "That'll work?"

"Yes, Serah that's one of the many powers that the keyblade holds, it can open any lock." Goofy explained to the pinkette.

"Interesting fact!" Serah shouted and skipped over to the locked door.

"Let's try this out!" She pointed the key at the small keyhole and a light shot from the base of the key and a quite click sounded. Serah turned the knob and pushed the door open. "Pretty cool feature, now let's hurry. We have to catch that organization member!"

"All the way up there!?" Donald asked pointing to the tippy top of the tower.

"Yes," Serah responded as she began walking up the very fragile steps of the tower. "No worries Donald if you fall you can always use you're magic. You are a chicken-I mean duck after all!" She chuckled quietly, Jack and Goofy doing the same.

Steam emitted from the top of the ducks head as he grumbled to himself. "You're not funny!"

They reached the mid-level of the tower where they came across an elevator. Serah pushed the up arrow and a horrific cackle filled all of their ears.

"That wasn't so pleasant..." Serah commented. A light hum sounded for a few seconds then a light ding. The elevator doors opened to let them all in and shot straight to the top.

They stepped out and traveled up a few more stories of stairs and they were finally there. Donald and Goofy fell to their knees huffing and puffing from fatigue while none of it seemed to faze Serah and Jack.

In front of them were three doors. Each door had the face of Lock, Shock, and Barrel on it. Serah scratched her head in confusion over which door to pick. This reminded her of those scenes in scary movies. One door lead you in the right direction while the other lead to your doom. "So...uhm any idea as to which one we should go in?"

"The door with Barrel's face." Jack suggested.

"No! The one with Shock's face." Was Donald's response.

"I say the one with Lock's face." Goofy added. "What do you think Serah?"

All three of them looked in her direction. Serah smiled weakly then turned to look over the edge to avoid the stares of her companions. Why was it up to her to decide? She didn't want to be responsible for picking the wrong door."I don't know, Jack why don't you pick you know this place better than we do."

Jack agreeed and decided with the door on the far right. The one with Shock's face on it. They all shook their head in agreement and Serah pushed open the door.

_'No, the middle door!'_

"What...?" The pinkette turned to the skeleton with a raised eyebrow a tilted her head slightly to the left. "Would you make up your mind?"

"What are you talking about?" The bemused skeleton asked. "We all decided on Shock's door."

"I know but then you said the middle one."

Jack put a bony finger to his lip and blinked. "I didn't say that."

All three of them looked at her as if she was going coo-coo. Hell she thought she was going coo-coo. But she knows what she heard.

"But I know I..." She sighed and decided not to say anything further but found herself questioning her sanity. "Forget it. Let's just go with the center door, it feels right..."

The pinkette pushed the door open and they walked inside. It was a small poorly lit room with many toys lying around if it was even safe to call them toys. They looked too dangerous to be called that. Over on the right wall was a lever.

"Wonder what this does..." Serah pulled the lever and a small compartment in the wall opened up, where the three menacing children popped out and tackled her.

"Huh, hey get off!"

"Get it get it!" Lock shouted.

"Got it!" Barrel snatched the keyblade from Serah and they all scattered. But before they had the chance to get out the door they bumped into Jack, Goofy, and Donald, who were who were acting as a blockade of sorts for the door.

"Awww no fair!" The menaces whined. "Now we won't be able to get our candy!

Serah snatched the keyblade back from the three children and gave them a very sterb stare. All three children began shaking in fear at the girl's quick mood switch.

"You three should be ashamed of yourselves!" The three looked down at their feet in shame as Serah continued her lecture. "It's not nice to try and steal away from other people it's wrong! What were you thinking!? Come on, don't all answer at once." She folded her arms over her chest and waited a few seconds. When no one spoke she choose Lock since he looked to be the ring leader out of all of them. "You, care to explain all of your actions?"

Lock stepped forward trembling and somewhat ready to cry. "W-we were just following orders from the man in b-black..." He said wiping his eyes.

Serah's eyes softened a little and she knelt down to the boy's height. "What did the man in black say to you?"

The boy sniffled. "H-he s-said t-to l-look for a girl with a key for a weapon and bring it to him. I-if we did h-he said he'd give us all the candy we wanted."

"Uh-huh..."Serah rose to her original height and nodded at her companions. "And where exactly is this man in black?"

"O-on the roof.." He ran over to the lever and pushed it down. The wall opened up leading to a pair of stairs.

"No tricks. Right!?"

They all shook their heads in unison. "None!"

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. Now go back to town and stay out of trouble. Understood!?" She said giving them that glare again.

"Y-yes!" They said and scurried out the door.

"Donald, Goofy, Jack, let's go." She started up the stairs but turned back when she noticed her friends weren't following behind. "Hey, come...on? What's with you three?"

"And you call me mean?" Donald said, hiding behind Goofy's leg. "You're much meaner than I am, and scary."

"What!?" She frowned. "No I'm not. Those kids needed some sort of a lecture. I bet they won't try and steal again. You agree right Goofy, Jack?"

The three characters looked at one another and started to laugh. They walked pass their friend and climbed up the stairs to the roof. Serah was the last one to follow. Trying to figure out what was so funny. She wasn't mean!

Finally reaching the roof. They could see the figure in black standing at the far end, almost close to the edge of the roof with his back facing them.

Serah and the group quickly approached him and he began to speak.

"You brats bought what I asked of you..?" The male asked, back still turned to them.

"Not quite, I bought you something better!" Serah spoke out.

The male smiled, not surprised at all to find the kids failed their assignment. He chuckled and turned around. Pulling his hood from his head, he revealed his face. He had ashen brown hair that stopped at his shoulders and blue eyes. "Guess that's what I get for placing my trust in children."

"What are you doing here?" Serah asked, tightening her grip on her keyblade.

"What's it look like? Collecting another world." He said, raising his arms up into the air. The more hearts we collect the better. Oh!" He pointed down below to the crowd of heartless. "How do you think I'm doing so far?" He smirked.

"Well your collecting stops here!." The girl whisked in the male's direction but before she had the chance to attack, he placed a barrier up and she struck only that.

The male laughed as he watch Serah eagerly attack the barrier but caused no damage to it. "Sorry," He started casually. "But today isn't exactly the day that I'll give you the pleasure of fighting me." He said with a small chuckle and leapt into the air. "I" have something else in store for you four." He drew his weapon from his back and aimed it towards the rickety old house. A blast of darkness from his weapon engulfed the house for a short few seconds before fading away. "Until next time, Oh wait, there will be no ne t time for you guys, farewell."

"Hey!" Just as the male vanished into the air, Serah and the others felt rumbling under their feet. "I don't like the feel of this guys…" The house rumbled again. This time shifted to the right, making all four of them roll over the edge. Serah quickly grabbed onto the corner to save herself while Jack grabbed onto her leg, Donald grabbed Jack's and Goofy held onto Donald's. The house continued to shift around, causing the three to swing from the left and to the right. Serah tried to pull herself and the others up over the edge but the weight of the other three was too much for her and she slipped, sending them all plummeting to the ground.

The pink haired girl sat up on the ground, shaking her head from the long fall. Lucky for her she wasn't hurt. "Jack, Goof-" The ground shook again, causing the girl to stumble and fall back down. Her eyes rolled up to the source of the ground shaking and her eyes grew wide. The house, it was alive! The two areas that were once windows were now replaced with a two glowing yellow eyes. "What in the name of-!"

The house lounged at her for attack but she quickly parried with a side dash. "Jack! Donald! Goofy! Get up!"

The three heard their friend's voice and groggily stood to their feet. The house went in for another attack but Serah kept dodging. "It's slow." She said, rolling forward to avoid being impaled by one of the planks. "I'll keep it distracted; you guys find a weak spot."

Donald, Jack, and Goofy all scattered into different directions in search of the heartless weak spot. "Hey, look there!" Donald said, pointing to a large dark orb at the center of the heartless back. Jack and goofy both took a gander at Donald's spot of interest. Agreeing, The three characters climbed up the back of the heartless with some difficulty but made it to the top. Together they all began attacking the strange orb. Donald and Jack using their magic, and Goofy using his shield.

The heartless roared out in pain much to Serah's liking and she encouraged them to keep up whatever it was that they were doing. Donald took the last hit with Blizzaga and the heartless collapsed to the ground, dispersing and melting into nothing but a puddle of dark ooze. In the wakes of it, a keyhole appeared.

"Serah use the keyblade!" Donald shouted.

Serah pointed the said weapon in the direction of the keyhole and a beam of light shot from it and directly into the hole, locking it. The keyhole gave off a radiant glow and a burst of light came from, spreading throughout the entirety of Halloween Town.

When the light cleared, all the darkness that was covering the area was gone and all the towns' people that had gone missing was standing around them.

Serah turned to Donald with an _I told you so _grin stretching across her lips. "See the heartless were the towns people, Now just imagine if you-"

"Ahh don't rub it in!" The Duck grumbled.

The all laughed and headed towards town.

:::

When they returned to town, Jack explained to the mayor about what had happened and if it wasn't for Serah and the others things could have really taken a turn for the worse. The Mayor thanked Serah, Donald, and Goofy for their help and let them know that they could visit the town anytime they wished to.

"So Jack, is the Halloween celebration still on?" Serah asked.

The skeleton sighed and frowned, shaking his head from side to side. "I'm afraid not Serah, after that issue no one is in their right mind to have a Halloween celebration. It'll have to be put off until next year."

"Aww, no worries Jack, I'm sure next Halloween will be a blast!" She said with a smile to cheer up the sad skeleton.

"That's right," Sally added, walking to Jack's side and patting him on the back. "Whatever you didn't get to do this year, you can add to next year's celebration."

Jack nodded and was suddenly back into great spirits. "Well then, I have to start planning now!" He said cheerfully. "Serah, Donald, Goofy Thank you for

everything."

* * *

Cobalt blue eyes opened up to large ebony clouds rapidly moving across the sky. He could hear what sounded like water clashing on and off shore. A bright flash of Lightning penetrated his eyes and he quickly shot up from the ground. A loud boom sounded, slightly shaking the ground beneath his feet. "Serah!" He shouted, frantically looking around to find the girl but she was nowhere in sight. "Serah!" He called again, hoping for an answer back but all he heard was his voice echoing back to him.

"She's not here.." He heard a soft but edgy voice say. "And neither should you.."


	4. Radiant Gardens

_**Chapter 4: Radiant Gardens**_

"One world down, so many more to go.." Serah said as she flopped down in a seat behind the pilot's chair. She yawned and stretched before letting her arms lay languidly across the seat. "Any chance that this ship can tell us where Sora is located?"

"Sadly no." Donald said as he took his place in the pilot chair. "If it did we would have been found Sora by now."

"You can't use your magic Donald?"

He huffed and pushed a few buttons on the dashboard to put the ship in motion. "Like I said before if any of what you stated were possible Sora would have been found long ago!"

"Alright, alright. No need to shout, I was just wondering. So where to next?"

Donald pushed the stick forward and the ship blasted off into the sky. "Radiant Gardens."

"What's there….?"

"Ugh! Stop with all the questions Serah! You'll see when we get there!" The duck cried out of irritation of the girl.

:::

Serah looked around the town in awe. Unlike all the other locations she's been, she felt at ease in this one. It felt danger free and welcoming. Twilight town gave off that same feeling but at the same time there was something ominous and strange about it that made her feel uneasy. "What's the name of this place again?"

"Radiant Gardens." Donald responded. The name alone made it sound like a place of peace. "Don't let the scenery fool you." She heard Donald speak as they turned the corner and began walking down a few stairs. Serah frowned, just when she thought she could let her guard down for a little while, Donald had to come along and say that. "This place has its share of heartless just as all the other worlds do."

The girl frowned and covered her face with her hand. Was there any specific place that didn't have any heartless at all? Was there any place to call safe? She looked down at the shadow heartless at her side and it looked up at her. "Well, be prepared when I need you. Since it seems we'll be fighting some heartless." She said to the dark creature. The heartless gestured something that almost looked like the same thing Serah did just seconds ago. The girl laughed and picked up the heartless. "I feel the same way."

"So how do we know that we should start here?" Serah asked as the three of them came up to a small house with a wooden door.

"We don't." Donald answered. "That is why we are stopping here."

Goofy knocked a few times then stepped back and waited while Serah continued to ask questions. "So is there someone here that is going to provide us with some useful information? If not I think stopping here is just a waste of time."

"Yes, now would you quit with all the questions!" Donald shouted. Serah sighed and rolled her eyes. The door knob rattled then the door creaked open. Standing before them was a blond spikey haired male dressed in an all-black military uniform. He wore a frown that never changed. Not even when Donald and Goofy shouted out his name.

"Cloud!"

"Hmph…" The male stepped aside and let the three of them in. Serah just eyed the male as she stepped inside. He reminded her so much of Light from his attitude all the way to the way he looked. If they were in the same room one would think they were related.

"And you are…?" He said looking the girl up and down from head to toe.

"I-I'm Serah. Nice to meet you?" She stammered as she extended her hand out for him to shake. The man was quite intimidating. His eyes shifted down to her hand but he just turned his back to her and leaned up against the wall with a bored expression on his face.

"Likewise…" Was all he said.

"Okay..." Serah said and let her hand fall back to her side.

"Oh don't mind him, that's just the way he is." Yuffie said to the girl.

"Yea, I see.." Serah stated quietly, cutting her eyes to the new face in the room. It was a girl that appered to be around the age of seventeen, with short black hair and a rather up beat personality.

"I'm Yuffie by the way, nice to meet you!" She shook the girl's hand turned to the two characters. Donald, Goofy!" She shouted and ran over to the two and greeted them with a big hug. "So glad to see the two of you again. It's been a while!"

"Yea, too bad we're all meeting up on bad terms again." Donald said.

Yuffie agreed with a nod of her head. "Yea, we've been informed. The heartless have gotten a lot tougher since the last battle we had against them. They did some pretty bad damage here. Not even the town's security was strong enough to destroy them. Thanks to Merlin everything was restored. But Merlin's magic can't always save us. You know. So we're improving security system!"

"That's good. But don't worry, we are going to do our best to put the heartless and whoever it is leading them, back in their place again." Goofy stated.

"I know you guys will, we're counting on you!"

"So any word on Sora's whereabouts yet.?" Yuffie asked. She was one of the few that remembered him.

Goofy shook his head with a sad frown. "Nope, but Serah here says that she met with Sora before they became separated."

Serah nodded. "Yea I did. Our meeting was short lived but I don't know where he is now, sorry."

"What about Leon, Cid and Tifa, do they remember him yet?" Donald asked.

"Yuffie shook her head slowly. "Nope, Leon says he sometimes has visions of an odd boy but he can't make out who it is. As for Tifa and Cid, nothing.."

Serah frowned, she knew how it felt to be the only one to know that someone exists. She went through the same thing with her friends when it came to Light. "Hey guys, don't give up hope. It'll just take time. They'll remember. Maybe not right now but, sometime down the line the memories of him will come back to all those who have forgotten him. You'll see!" She said and smiled at the three.

The three nodded. "I sure do hope so it's been months now..." Yuffie said.

"So where is everybody..?" Donald asked looking around to see that half of everyone was missing.

"Well Tifa and Aeirth are in town making sure that the town's people are alright. Merlin is off running errands, Riku and the new guy are at Ansem's study working on the computer. And Leon is somewhere in town, surprised you didn't run into him. I'm sure they'll be back soon. You guys are free to stick around as long as you like until then.

"Gladly.." Serah said and sat down in a chair beside the door. She really just wanted to relax even if it was for a little while. All this running around and fightning was making her tired. The last time she rested was before she met Sora, and that was in Bodum.

Donald and Goofy agreed as well and told Serah that they would go into town and stock up on useful items and acessories for their journey. The pink-haired girl waved to her companions as they left into town. A yawn slipped over her lips as sleep began to overcome her. She layed back against the chair and closed her eyes, falling asleep.

* * *

_The room was pitch black and all that could be heard was the roaring sound of the thunder on the outside. Flashes of lightning lit up the small room every ten seconds or so, and smalls frightend gasps fell over the lips of a young girl._

_Thunder roared again and the smaller girl pressed her face into the chest of her older sister. The two sat in a corner on the far right side of the room watching a door that was blocked off by two matresses and a dresser. A loud bang sounded but it wasn't from the thunder. The young girl whimpered and grabbed onto the sleeves of her sister's jacket._

_The banging noise continued and it frightened the little girl even further. It was only a matter of time before he got in. She knew that. She had to do something. The oldest hugged her sister then stood to her feet. The youngest looked up at her with worry chisled in her bright teary blue eyes._

_"C-claire...?"_

_Claire pulled her sister from the floor and walked over to another door in the room, a closet. She opened it and pushed the girl inside. "Serah, you stay here," The older pink haired girl order her sister. She held her hand out in front of her as key like weapon appered in her grasp. "No matter what you hear, do not open this door. Understand?" She said somberly. _

_Serah nodded though she really didn't want to. She wanted to stay by her sister's side through this whole ordeal even if she was helpless. She was afraid that her sister leaving her sight even for the shortest of seconds would result in something terrible happing to her. But even if she did beg chances were that Claire wouldn't listen to her._

_"Claire no please, don't go out there he's dangerous!" The girl begged, but Claire ignored her sister's pleas and shut the closet door._

_"Claire..." The young Farron girl weeped. She was terrified of what was going to occur next. About what would happen to her sister..what would happen to her. A loud bang sounded on the outside of the closet along with some metal clashing against each other. Serah wrapped her arms over her head and rocked back and forth as the brawl outside continued._

_"Where is she!"_

_"None of your business!" She heard Claire shoot back._

_The brawl went on for several minutes until Serah heard something metallic clash against the floor. A dark laugh followed and she could hear gasps of air coming from her sister. The young Farron covered her mouth to keep her cries silent and to herself. She looked up at the door knob, tempted to open it but remembered what Claire told her not to do._

_She weeped quietly and scooted as far into the closet as she could go. She closed her eyes and wished that she and Claire could be in a better place under better circumstances. She heard her sister shriek then, there was bang against the closet door, followed by a thud on the floor._

_"C-claire..." The girl whispered sadly. It was obvious that the older girl heard her since Serah heard her whisper __**'Shh..' **__through the door._

_Footsetps were slowly approaching the door. Serah held her breath and closed her eyes. Her heart beated so loud she feared that the man on the outside was able to hear it. The footsteps came to a stop and there was a small push against the door, following a small grunt from Claire._

_"You're just an obstacle in my way, hindering me from what I'm really after. So here, allow me to remove you!"_

_"Just before the man had the chance to attack, Serah burst from the closet and latched onto her sister's arm. "No, no please don't hurt her!"_

_"Serah, Serah run!" Claire shouted but it was too late, the man waved his hand through the air and Serah was torn from her sister's grasp. Serah's body now levitated in front of the mysterious man. Strangely, she couldn't move any part of her body._

_"You've made this all too easy..." The man raised his hand and a weapon materialized. Serah recognized it to be one similar to the one Claire had carried but his was different in shape and size._

_"You.." Claire picked up her weapon and rushed after the man but he quickly interrupted any type of attack she would have used against him, by summoning up some heartless to keep her busy. "Serah!" Claire called as she tried to break through the heartless._

_The man raised his weapon and pointed it at the center of the girl's chest. "Don't worry, it'll be quick and over with before you know it." He pulled back the weapon then thrusted it into the girl's chest._

* * *

Serah quickly woke up choking and gasping for air. When she finally was able to catch her breath, she calmed herself.

_'What the hell was that just now...'_

Another one of those horrid nightmares. She couldn't close her eyes for a minute without having one. But why was she continuing to have them? She stood up from the chair and walked over to a nearby mirror where she examined her chest. She sighed relieved. There was no stab wound.

"We're back!" Goofy called out as he and Donald walked through the door. Serah turned from the mirror and smiled at her two friends. "Oh, hey you two. How was your trip into town?" She asked weirdly then sat down in the chair, her mind was still preoccupied.

"Nothing, special." Donald said. "But we did get everything we needed when we set out again."

"Say, where did Cloud and Yuffie go?" Goofy asked noticing their absence.

"Hm, uhm...oh..I don't know maybe they uh...slipped out while I wasn't paying attention I guess." She responded distantly. "I uhm..I need some air, I'll be back in a little while."

"Ah, Serah..." Donald called but the girl was already out the door.

"What do you suppose is wrong with her..?" Goofy asked, just as confused as Donald was.

"Beats me, guess we'll wait here until everyone returns."

:::

Serah aimlessly strolled through the small town terrified at the event that had just occurred. She raised a hand up over her chest where her heart was beating uncontrollably. Not only that, it was hurting. That dream made it feel so real. It took the breath out of her that's for sure. But why was she having these dreams..could it be that they mean something? Are they connected? And that strange man...who was he?

She couldn't see his face at all. come to think of it she couldn't see any part of him. All she could here was his voice, and it wasn't one that she was familiar with at all. Whoever that man was he sure scared the hell out of her. She sat down on some stone steps and sighed quietly. She was thinking too far into this. It could have come from all the stress she's been dealing with lately.

Then again, theses dreams were taking place long before all these things started to occur. Well whatever these dreams were, if they were a sign or something, she'd find out as she goes along. She hoped.

She stood from her spot on the stair and began walking around through the town. There was nothing else better to do at the moment. Without Donald and Goofy's friends to give them some insight they weren't going anywhere.

She headed over to the item shop to pick up a few items that she needed. Donald and Goofy said that they'd gotten everything but you can never have too many items. Especially on the dangerous journey they set out on. She bout six elixir's, ten hi-potions, and four ethers. She would have bought more but everything was so high priced. She turned and continued her walk through the small town. Nothing was ever this pricy in New Bodum.

New Bodum...

Serah sighed. Caught up in all this mess she'd forgotten about her home. And her friends. She was so caught up in finding only Light, that her friends slipped her mind. They were lost too. Who know's where they could of ended up. What if they were turned into heartless..? Gadot, Snow, Maqui, Lebreau, and Yuuj. All of them, what if they are no longer?

"Stop it Serah..." She mumbled to herself. This was no time for negative thoughts. Only positivity will help her through this situation. Her friends are fine! They are alive and well! She reassured herself. They probably just ended up in some other world like she did! That's what she wanted to believe, but that unsure feeling in her stomach kept making her believe otherwise.

Unaware of her surroundings since she was so drawn into her own thoughts at the time, Serah clashed hard into someone. Both fell back away from one another and landed on the ground. Well that hurt more than she wanted it too. That's what she gets for strolling around and not paying attention.

Serah stood up and dusted her clothes off. The person she bumped into did the exact same thing. They also picked up the bag of items she dropped and handed it over to her.

"I'm sorry." He said as he held the bag out to her. "I was kind of in thought when I bumped into you I hope you can...huh!?"

Serah had the same reaction when she finally made eye contact with who it was she bumped into. Shock overwhelmed her she couldn't believe it. And neither could the other.

"S-serah!?"

"Hope!?"

It had been two years since she had seen Hope. Ever since the disappearance of Light, Hope has been rather distant from the group. Too busy working on whatever it ws he was working on. To see him here was quite the surprise. "What are you doing here!?"

"Well I was about to ask you the same thing!" He said then walked towards the stone steps she was sitting just moments ago. Serah joined him and took a seat at his side. She was more than happy to actually find someone she knew in this place. Not knowing anyone put her in an awkward position.

"This strange occurrence happened where I was sucked into this black portal. Next thing I knew I was in some different world. I've actually been to quite a few now, this one being the third one I've visited." She said with a smile.

"Yea well this is the first and only one I've been to. Same thing that has happened to you happened to me as well. But before I woke up, I seen...Light and she gave me a message."

"Wh-what did she say!?"

"She told me to help you and the others out and make sure you all stay on the right path. I promised her I would do just that." He smiled.

"I know you will Hope. Thanks."

"No problem Serah, you know I'm here to help anyway possible." He finished.

"So, are any of the others here as well?" She asked.

Hope tilted his head and raised his eyebrow obviously confused. "Others?"

"Yeah...you know Snow, Gadot, Lebreau, Maqui, and Yuuj.." She said.

"Oh right them...no not that I know of." He stated strangely. "But I'm sure they are around somewhere Serah we just have to keep searching. We'll all reunite sometime soon!"

Sometime soon, sometime soon! Well sometime soon wasn't coming quick enough for her she wanted it to be now! "Yea, you're right Hope." But that type of thing wasn't going to happen.

"Cheer up Serah, things will look up soo-"

"Later," She corrected. She was sick of hearing people say good things will happen soon because that wasn't true. "Things will look up later Hope. Not soon.."

"Okay, if you say so Serah. Anyway, we should be heading back to Merlin's place, everyone should be back there since Riku and I returned from the study." He said as he began leading the way back to the old man's home.

That's right, she'd forgotten all about that. That stupid dream had thrown her off for the most part, and then her run in with Hope really threw her off. "Right, well let's go, everyone's probably waiting for us."

* * *

"You shouldn't be here!" The voice repeated to the brunette boy. The figure stepped out from the shadows and presented themselves to the boy. When Sora was finally able to see the person. He felt better.

"Light.." He started but he didn't know what to say to her. She'd given him a task and he failed. How was he going to say he lost her sister. "Light..I uhm.."

Light's eyes narrowed, making the boy turn his eyes down at the ground. "Sora, where's Serah." The woman asked.

"Uhm…" He scratched the back of his head nervously and swallowed hard as he continued to think about how he was going to explain himself. "Well, you see, we kind of got separated after leaving Bodum. It wasn't my fault I.." He sighed and dropped his head. "I'm sorry Light.."

The woman was silent for a long while which only scared Sora. He could only wonder what was going through her mind at the time and what was she going to do or how was she going to react. Lightning moved from her spot and walked up to the boy then stopped in front of him. "Go find her Sora." She said then patted him on the shoulder. "I've told you, I need you to protect her at this time because only you can." She explained. "I understand the issue this time but, never leave her side again. Understand?" She said giving the boy a stern stare that he quickly nodded to.

Lightning held up her hand and a keyblade appeared. She waved it through the air and a dark portal opened up that she pushed the boy towards. "Go, this will take you back to the realm of light."

He nodded, while stpping inside. "Right. Don't worry Light, you can count on me!" He said with a smile before the portal closed.


End file.
